This is a letter that is intended to be given to my chaplain at Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, IL. I graduated from the College in 2003...a few years after the tragedy of September 11, 2001. I know first hand the power of community when the world seems to be a frightening place. I know the capacity of love that those leading that institution have for their students. In recent days vandalism and threats of violence have plagued the campus causing it to close and cancel classes

I sometimes have dreams that leave me tired and troubled in the morning. I can rarely remember details. I just remember that I had a "really weird dream." Sometimes I have dreams that I remember, and unlike the wise souls of the Bible, I have no idea what they mean. This dream was one of them. I was at Woodstock. I know it was the Woodstock location. I've been there twice this year. In my dream, I was sitting in theater seats, which are definitely NOT Woodstock. I was sitting

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted…” Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 In his book Small Creatures and Ordinary Places, Essays on Nature, Allen M. Young tries to show us the beauty of what lies in our own backyards through some of the smallest of God’s creatures...katydids, mice, bats etc... He also talks about the change of seasons in a way that echoes my

Henry and Noah were excited to carry the cross on Sunday morning. It was fun to watch their excitement. I understood it. In the church of my childhood, you could acolyte starting in 7th grade, but couldn't be a crucifer until 10th grade, because the cross was heavy. But by then, I was singing in the adult choir, and since multi-tasking wasn’t a thing back then, I never got to be a crucifer. So I feel some of that enthusiasm now when I get to be a crucifer. I love the relation

St. Francis of Assisi - the patron saint of animals and animal lovers. But who was this guy that was born way back in the 1180’s well before the Reformation? Francis was born into a very wealthy Italian family that made their money trading silk. His family indulged his every whim, making him the stereotypical spoiled rich child - never knowing what it was to want or do not have the basic necessities of life. Then, joining the army, Francis was set well on his way for a profou