Pastor Don's Ponderings

 Looking at this picture of our granddaughter, Liza, and grandniece, Lily, it occurs to me that our culture spends far too much time insisting on giving children answers, rather than inviting them to imagine, inquire and explore. Maybe if we spent more time considering the place of the princess or prince in our life, and less time insisting that we be named king of all there is forevermore, we would find more joy and laughter in life and less stress on our heart. In these days of Covid-19, nearing elections, the causes of injustice and inequality in our world, and the general malaise concerning the care and welfare of anyone other than the person in the mirror, take a moment to step back from all of your pat and certain answers and watch a child at play . . . and learn. As much as most of us disdain the inevitable youngster's questions of, 'Why?' or 'How much longer?', perhaps it is time we look to our Parent God and, as the child, ask the question . . . then wait f...

How many times has it been said to me, "Just stay on track!"? Then I see a sight such as this and mull on those words as a blessing . . . May the track your life is on bring you to the newness of sunrise each day. May your every sunrise be filled with the colors of beauty and delight. May you not be so busy that you don't have time to have a cup of coffee and visit with the people at the rail side elevator as you move ahead. May the 'sailor's warning' of such a dawning find its resolve in the 'sailor's delight' of an evening spent with friends and family reflecting on a day lived well. At the spot where rails and trees seem to converge, may you find your way continuing to open before you, straight and true, leading to peace and content along the way. May the foundation under your tracks be set upon the certainty of Faith in God, the strength of Christ the Rock, and the solid unwavering Love of the Holy Spirit. May the countryside through...

I love the photography of my friend and colleague, Fr. Jerry Schweitzer, who resides in Northern Indiana. He publishes a daily meditation which includes his photographs and, truth be told, most days I find myself just looking into the pictures he provides and imagining my place in each setting. Jerry, and so many others like him, have the God-given capacity to see with God's eyes, to intuitively capture a moment, an event or an environment, and then invite others to marvel with them at the sight. This scene holds me fast . . . On the shoreline of Lake Michigan, at a place where once someone sat and took in its beauty and power, where a fence divides the land to the place where the waters cannot be divided, and where under snow and blustery winds there still resides the vestiges of summers past: The windswept grasses tell their tales and shifting sands reveal their secrets. Here we meet ourselves. Here we see our reflections. Here we tremble, not for Winter's wind, but fo...

There are two times of the day when I have a tendency to be grumpy, when I am awake and when I am asleep. My wife thought about waking up grumpy the other day, but she let me sleep. There is a fine line between grumpy and gravitas . . . and I am currently doing a dance on the line with the music only I can hear in my mind. Seriously, there is a lot of truth in what I said here and the older I get the more I find it enjoyable to play the part of the grumpy theologian/academician/dad/papa. If you know just enough, grumpiness can become an interesting way to manage the younger generation or, for that matter, anyone else with whom you have to spend a lot of time. Grumpiness is a nice foil for dealing with the self-righteous, pompous and arrogant, being somewhere between the manifestation of karma and the foreshadowing of truth hitting the fan. In many ways, I have to wonder if Jesus' answer to the rich young lawyer wasn't more of a grumpy answer that others took as loving, tha...