reflections
-
Tis the Season – An Advent Liturgy
Tis the Season for Wish Lists Children and adults alike wish for gifts under the tree and stores offer every incentive to fill these desires. Yet many wishes are unspoken and unfulfilled – desires that cannot be put in a box and unwrapped on Christmas morning. I have compiled my wish of wants and crave many things, yet my heart desires deeper things: healing, reconciliation, true connection, a place to settle and be known. May the world come to know that every wish and desire, both written and unspoken, is fulfilled in You, O Lord God. Tis the Season for Drinking deeply and Eating abundantly Recipes overflow the internet and…
-
A Reflection on a Torn Labrum & The Process of Grief
It has been over a year since my shoulder surgery in Spring 2021 to repair a torn labrum, and I’ve spent the past couple months reflecting on that harrowing experience. To give some background, for many years, my right shoulder had been bothering me after a volleyball injury. The labrum is a thick piece of tissue deep in the shoulder joint that keeps the ball of the joint in place, and the tearing had led to continual discomfort, inability to do several activities and exercises, and the pain was even to the point that sometimes I would simply turn over in my sleep and wake up feeling like my shoulder…
-
A New, Old Justice
“Black Lives Matter.” When was the last time in recent history that three words were simultaneously incredibly unifying as well as incredulously divisive? On the 57th anniversary of the iconic March on Washington, similar cries resound throughout our nation, bringing awareness to injustice in America and demanding reparations for African Americans. Over the past several months, since the murder of George Floyd at the end of May, I have watched, listened, observed, learned, and processed this movement in America. My heart has been broken over and over again as I listen to the stories of many Americans, both intimate friends and people who I may never meet, as they share the…
-
Ilm versus Wisdom – A Ramadan Reflection
Ramadan Mubarak! The month of Ramadan always brings my Muslim friends around the world to my mind more readily, but this year is especially significant in that a global pandemic means that the communal aspect of Ramadan, which is so core to the experience, will be missing for many in the Muslim community. Breaking the daily fast with a meal, or iftar, is a celebration that my Muslim friends look forward to each year. I cannot imagine celebrating the major holidays in my culture, like Thanksgiving and Christmas, without gathering together with many friends and family members. Ramadan without a large, communal iftar is like Thanksgiving without the…
You May Also Like
Tis the Season – An Advent Liturgy
-
Reflections on India… one year later
“It sounds like you didn’t like it there.” This was a new friend’s response after he asked me to explain what living in northern India had been like. Perhaps he concluded that because of my description of the sights and sounds and smells of living above a slum community… Or perhaps it was after I explained the struggle of adjusting to the poor air quality, unsanitary water, and vastly different cuisine… It also may have been his conclusion after I told him about the everyday event of witnessing men peeing on the side of the trash-strewn road while their eyes followed my every move… If you look at my life…
