I love the Olympics, especially the Summer Olympics. Certainly, I love the classics. Soccer? Obviously. Track and field? Top of my list. Gymnastics? Always, especially this year, with Simone Biles performing. Swimming? I’m in. And I also love the crazy sports that I only watch every four years: Synchronized swimming? Absolutely. Rhythicmic gymnastics? Gorgeous. Speed…… Continue reading Celebrating the Olympic “Village”
Category: Bodies
Whisper, “found.”
As I was skimming one of my favorite book of meditations and prayers yesterday, I found a lovely prayer by Rev. Emmy Kegler. It is called “For All the So-Called Lost,” and it is a reflection on Luke 15:8: “And what woman, if she had ten coins and lost one, wouldn’t light a lamp, and…… Continue reading Whisper, “found.”
Zero at the Bone
I read this book after reading an article about it in The New Yorker. Wiman is a poet, and is fighting a rare form of cancer. He is still alive beyond when the doctors all said he should be dead. In this book, he offers poems, personal reflections, quotes and other short meditations that combine…… Continue reading Zero at the Bone
Learning from The Race Card Project
I want to share a bit about a book I just finished: Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think about Race and Identity, by Michele Norris, the creator of The Race Card Project. I first read about this book in The New York Times, and as soon as I read the story, I knew I…… Continue reading Learning from The Race Card Project
What did you think about “Barbie”?
Did you see the movie “Barbie”? I finally got around to watching it on our flight to Tanzania—I think we all did!—and I’m glad I saw it; it is definitely thought-provoking, and it is also quite entertaining. I read a review of it in The New Yorker when it first came out, and I agree…… Continue reading What did you think about “Barbie”?
Building Relationships over Time
Our group with Bethany & Steve Friberg This morning, we went out to the Ketumbeini Medical Clinic that is owned by the ELCT, and is run by missionary Steve Friberg. He has been here doing this work for over 20 years, and it was very interesting to hear about the changes he has seen in…… Continue reading Building Relationships over Time
Hopes & Challenges
Ketumbeini After a long drive yesterday afternoon, we made it to Ketumbeini. No one minded the time in the land cruiser because of the beautiful scenery—including ostrich, giraffes, dik dik, and gazelle. Our guest house is very nice: the food is good, the chai is wonderful, and the showers have (mostly) hot water. What more…… Continue reading Hopes & Challenges
The Maasai Girls Lutheran Secondary School
At the entrance to the school Today we spent the day at the Maasai Girls Lutheran Secondary School (MGLSS) and it was an absolutely amazing experience to hear the story of the school, the story of the graduates, and to meet some of the girls. This is where Beth first taught 25 years ago, and…… Continue reading The Maasai Girls Lutheran Secondary School
Ordinary People at Auschwitz
Yesterday we visited Auschwitz-Birkenau. As many of you know, Auschwitz was the largest of the Nazi concentration camps and extermination centers. Over 1.1 million men, women and children were murdered there. Auschwitz proper was actually a whole network of sub-camps, forty in all, that exploited the prisoners as slave labor. [The website, by the way,…… Continue reading Ordinary People at Auschwitz
Embodiment at the Parliament
The 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions opened yesterday, and I was pleased to be on a panel with two of my colleagues, Evangeline Anderson-Rajkumar and Kris Kvam, on Embodied Justice from a Lutheran perspective. I wanted to share a bit from my presentation, because I think the concept of embodiment is so important for…… Continue reading Embodiment at the Parliament
Happy Lutheran 