Is this a picture of a crocus? Yes and no. Let’s get botanical!
When Europeans came to North America, virtually all the plants they saw were new to them. However, many looked similar to those they knew from Europe, so the names of flowers from ‘back home’ were applied to their counterparts here in the ‘new country’. Why they didn’t come up with new names for the new plants or adopt the names Indigenous communities already had for them I don’t know.… Read the rest
She was unsure why or how, but Vera was always drawn to the leaf edge. No matter which way she had set out to travel, her feet, as if pulled by magnets, always brought her here. And then she’d stand, looking out at a world of many colors and experience an odd mix of melancholy and pride that she was and always would be a green weevil.… Read the rest
I’ve experienced a life of relative stability, with the broad strokes of the future appearing relatively predictable. Yes, there’s been ups and downs over time, but they have all seemed in the realm of ‘normal’. It doesn’t feel this way anymore – the political, social, environmental, and economic context is shifting outside the expected, outside of what I’ve experienced in the past.… Read the rest
As we’re well into March, my thoughts are turning to gardening. For me, gardening is a hobby. While my homegrown produce tastes better than anything I’d buy at the grocery store, I could, with much less sweat, simply buy a few more veggies. But where’s the fun in that?
I grew up in a family that gardened. Vegetables, flowers, fruit trees – my family grew it all.… Read the rest
Yesterday was Ash Wednesday – a day that, for Christians in the west, marks the first day of Lent. The period of Lent is the 40 days leading up to Easter and echos the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert fasting and enduring temptations (Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 3:1-13). For those who observe it, Lent is period of reflection, repentance, confession, and sacrifice.… Read the rest
As of today, I am the parent of an adult. This is weird. Everything about it is weird.
Me being old enough to have an adult child? Weird.
Me having been a parent for 18 years? Weird.
Just weird.
Also in the category of weird is the feature organism for a Wasp Wednesday: the Pelecinid Wasp.
Friends, I’ve been lucky enough to meet this lovely lady on several occasions, including once on the sidewalk near my house.… Read the rest
I got this mug as a gift from my brother, who picked it up at the Mennonite Heritage Village. The fancy script and heraldry suggest a regal Friesen lineage. A search of the internet finds several different versions of a Friesen coat of arms, though most have the knight helmet and include a good amount of red.
Speaking of family lineage, I made bread this morning using the recipe passed down to me from my mom, who in turn received it from my dad’s mom.… Read the rest
I’m certainly not an cultural anthropologist, but I imagine the concept of ‘park’ or ‘protected area’ – an area deliberately set aside to be free of human ‘interference’ for its own safety – would have been completely foreign and nonsensical to the majority of human societies that have existed to date.
It seems the need for protected areas is the result of at least two things:
Regarding #1, I’m sure there has been much ink spilled to examine and explain how this worldview came about – I recall reading something by Alfred North Whitehead many years ago that placed the blame, and not without merit, at the feet of a certain understanding of Christian theology.… Read the rest
My parents brought me this mug from one of their excursions to the American southwest. Unfortunately, the dishwasher has worn away the image (this is the less damaged side).
They went a few times to New Mexico and Arizona in their retirement. Whenever I use this mug I think of them. They went in winter – Mom enjoyed the break from the cold as she was definitely not a winter person.… Read the rest
The Edge of Meaning and the Freedom of Insignificance
This post is a sermon I preached at Jubilee Mennonite Church on 15 August 2024. Thanks to the people of JMC for letting me work out my faith (faith issues?) in their company.
Both the book of Ecclesiastes and this sermon are more about experience than theology (though the degree to which one’s experience shapes one’s theology would be interesting to explore) .… Read the rest