VIEW FROM THE PEW It’s almost a given that talking about plans for the long road ahead toward Easter will be about the “give ups.” Even Pope Francis discussed giving up personal electronics and social media during Lent. I was going to joke about exempting myself briefly from a vow to give up pastries because […]

VIEW FROM THE PEW Familiar words about fostering peace, justice and human rights spoken at a recent church service held a crowd enrapt and silent, and later exuberantly noisy when those sentiments were reflected in historical spiritual songs. It was only fitting that we focused on the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. […]

View from the pew I was looking every which way to avoid the topic of this week. Feeling guilty that I should even talk about giving thanks, I should confess all the times I fail to do that, or mouth thanks but with an insincere or ungrateful heart … and that’s just in the past […]

VIEW FROM THE PEW Relics have been on my mind lately. I’m in a meditative mood not a morbid one as I think about our human tendency to hold onto a memory, a piece of history by clinging to a thing. It’s not just me reviewing my clutter, our landscape is full of memorials and […]

VIEW FROM THE PEW The priest at a recent Mass invited us to look away from him during the homily and focus on the oldtime visual aid, a stained glass window depicting the Good Samaritan parable. It’s classic religious art, vibrant colors for the well-dressed good guy and languishing robbery victim on the ground — […]

VIEW FROM THE PEW What was that scary movie with those kids running in the forest trying to escape something awful and the trees and bushes seemed ominously reaching out to grab them? I saw it years ago and it replayed as a dream on a recent hot windless night maybe triggered by an overhanging […]