Let’s close the doors and windows and shut off the cameras and microphones. We need to create a virtual saferoom for the next five minutes and talk turkey about our Sunday morning neighbors. This isn’t gossip; it’s something far more crucial than cranky banter about mediocre minutia. What’s up? Almost four years ago, my health […]

The fact that you’re reading this – and, that I’m sending this – means that Joshua Mhlakela – a self-described “born again believer” in South Africa who is not a pastor, apostle or bishop (his self-descriptions) didn’t have the date right. He’s become quite the world-wide-web celebrity over the last few weeks, since appearing on

Shattered. Fractured. Disrupted. Fragmented. Splintered. Split. Ruined. Destroyed. Those terms are all capable of turning joy into sadness and lament when applied to something that was originally intact, but is now broken, seemingly beyond repair. Deep grief assumes that the disintegration is irreversible. That informed diagnosis is an honest assessment of our American culture, c.

Now hear this: it’s personal. And, to the degree that it’s personal, it’s not subject to scrutiny or substantiation by anyone else. “The truth” has given way to “My truth.” Facts that are universally and objectively certain are no longer the basis for thinking and believing. The traditional oath administered to a witness in a

Two days before the start of the Labor Day weekend, sin made landfall in Minneapolis. Robin Westman shot through the windows of the chapel at Annunciation Catholic School while kids were inside, attending mass. Before taking his own life, Westman killed two kids and wounded 17 kids and grown-ups. As the news rocketed across the

Happy Labor Day!  Seems like I’m always saying that, though it’s only once a year. But Labor Day is always on a Monday – and the Point of View blog is always published on Monday – so Labor Day, for us, is Big… Labor Day was established by Congress in 1884 to recognize “the strength

Save Democracy! So: what American – with a stripe of patriotism in their multi-layered personal make-up – would decry that rallying-cry? I mean, come on: if America was/is drowning in the political floodwaters of 2025, wouldn’t you want to jump in and save it? Are things in the (formerly) United States reaching the point of

It’s Monday. Mid-August. I’ve been preaching balance, margin and focus as a framework for life well lived, for decades. “Balance” includes some regular and recurrent Sabbath time with family. Am I practicing what I’ve been preaching? And, in this emerging virtual world… could I replace myself with Artificial Intelligence for this weekly communiqué with you?

My faith tradition doesn’t involve confession to clergy, resulting in spiritual prescriptions leading to absolution. For we who operate outside that church structure, pent up revelations can lead to a need to unload, somewhere. Modern culture allows people to vent in other ways. Speaking the truth can put relationships at risk; too often, the BFO

Where are you, today… and what are you doing there? If you’re opening your (e)mail to start your week, it’s Monday morning, and you’re probably gearing-up for another week in the salt mines. “Salt Mine?” That’s a pejorative idiom for dull or unpleasant labor. Maybe you’re one of the fortunate who relish their return to