Collecting My Thoughts

I remember when I first learned about Marco Polo, the 13th century Venetian diplomat who lived in China as a young man. I was about 10 years...

This is an important day. It's the penultimate day of the church calendar. (Ultimate means final or farthest and pen means almost.) So i...

The publication I use with my morning meditations is called "The Magnificat" and is Roman Catholic using a liturgical year theme. ...

 Our small group from UALC (our church) is sharing leadership for our meetings on Zoom and I plan to offer a discussion on hymns as we enter...

Good-bye summer.   That's what I think on September 1. It's my favorite month, though. It was the start of school (in the old days) ...

 I love reading hymns in my morning devotions.  Sometimes I spend all my time on the opening hymn and Psalm. I own two hymnal sources, both ...

This morning I was looking on-line for a title about the hymn writer Frederick W. Faber and came across a reprint series. "Forgotten Bo...

Blogger (owned by Google) locked me out! I'm back and ready for business! Here's my Monday, September 4 blog, saved in word proces...

 I usually have a hymn in my morning devotions, and today it was "Once to every man and nation." I looked through my various hymn ...

I haven't seen the new movie "Jesus Revolution" yet but reading through the history of the movie and the era, I realize it coi...

I confess. I had zero European history classes in college. So I'll take a non-recommended stop at Wikipedia for the 30 Years War, 1618-4...

 And how do you interpret this hymn? "In Christ alone" by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty. In Christ alone, Who took on flesh, Full...

Yesterday I found a source of beautiful hymns, including “All glory laud and honor” for Palm Sunday, and was surprised they were from India—...

 Many churches are still on a limited schedule, buildings locked during the week, ministries of service that involve person to person contac...

Yesterday I came across a new contemporary hymn called The Blessing, and it has caught the world by storm.  I think it was released live in ...

1 O God of earth and altar, bow down and hear our cry, our earthly rulers falter, our people drift and die; the walls of gold ent...

James Russell Lowell was a 19th century American poet, critic, essayist, editor, and diplomat, not a hymn writer, but I know this poem is fo...

Today is Sunday.  June 7 is Holy Trinity Sunday. I’ve checked on line and even ELCA and Episcopal church which both support abortion are pro...

This morning I've been reading the story of Tobit, Anna, Tobiah and Sarah. Such an interesting cast of characters including a demon name...

O God, creation's secret force, Yourself unmoved, all motion's source Who from the morn till evening ray Through all its cha...