Welcome to the first installment in an occasional new series of blogposts called “Games We Played.” The idea behind this series is to — in a quick and hopefully fun way — pass on to my grandchildren’s generation the games we played as kids. And by games I don’t mean Monopoly and Chinese Checkers and I certainly don’t mean any game that can be played sitting on the couch with a computer, tablet or phone in your hands. I’m talking …
Category: History
As I write this, St. Louis is in the midst of a winter snowfall that could leave somewhere between 6-12 inches of snow on the ground. It’s beautiful and all that, but I’m not amused. Just a week ago, I spent several hours of an unseasonably warm day walking the grounds of one of our region’s storied treasures — the Missouri Botanical Garden. Here's a photo essay of my visit. …
Why study the past? Why look at an ancient piece of rock or an early Wright Brothers Flyer? Beyond our curiosity and perhaps our own deep desires to somehow change the world, perhaps the answer lies in something a bit deeper. For those who profess a faith in a loving and creating God, perhaps it lies in our yearning to find a connection between our world, its innovators and their creations, and our faith and the God who creates and …
Before even leaving for our trip to New Mexico, I knew one of our stops would be the majestic and oft-photographed San Francisco de Assisi Mission Church just outside of Taos. …
When we give ourselves some time and some promptings to remember, we can recall images and stories, and stories and images can change lives, can turn people toward God who waits for our turning. For most of us, these stories and pictures speak louder than proclamations. …
The Christmas story is both human and divine, and the divine lies in the “why” of the story. If we cannot fully understand the why, perhaps we can at least kneel in its presence, recognizing the holy — somehow — when we see it. …
Our dwelling place is in God and God’s in us. We fit perfectly together, rooted in love, a communion carved of one piece and clinging inseparably together through time. …
Walking through cemeteries, I have learned over the years, is a lesson in awareness. We are reminded, of course, that we are dust and to dust we shall return. But we also learn the power of quiet, of stillness, of non-busyness. It’s hard to hurry through a graveyard, and why would we want to? …
We all need a place to pray with others who share our faith or just to be alone with our thoughts and our God. Washington, D.C. has many such places for believers of every kind. And with the weight of the nation and the world on the shoulders of so many of these men and women, it’s a good thing. …
Someone hoped that 150 years later these walls would still be standing, echoing back the prayers and songs and sacraments of a community of faith. To stand outside the walls and consider the baptisms and first communions and weddings and funerals is to see the history of an entire community in one cold-stone place. It’s imperfect, like so many places. But it is sacred ground. I can feel it. …