Damn! Another soul has taken their own life. I am mad. Please understand I am not angry at the latest rock star alleged suicide, but at the darkness that haunted him and so many of our loved ones who are convinced that the end of life is the only answer. Please! There will be a … More I AM HERE
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 1 Cor. … More A Noisy Gong
The power of love is limitless to those who have really experienced it. I am not someone who is prone to being “squishy’ about life nor am I frequently subject to a real bad case of “the feels.” When I write about the power of love I immediately recognize that there are those of us … More What Can Love Do?
What do you do when you are exhausted from the baby crying all night, your kids can’t find clothes to wear, they want to be at school 10 minutes ago, and you have only had some of your first cup of coffee? I have a choice. Fall apart as I look at this day and … More Battling Chaos
Why is it that we crave to be known all while wanting to be left alone? When we enter into the pain and disorder and hear of a way through it we don’t want to be bothered by calls for personal or communal change. That would mean that our course is incorrect, the path we … More Lonely in America
I am reflecting on compassion and mercy today. When I read the AP reports about the violence that we carry out against each other, my heart aches. Then I read a post this morning by Anni who shares her worry as a mother of a black son in America. Please click here to read her … More Love and Fear in America
There’s no earthly way of knowing Which direction they are going! There’s no knowing where they’re rowing, Or which way they river’s flowing! Not a speck of light is showing, So the danger must be growing, For the rowers keep on rowing, And they’re certainly not showing Any signs that they are slowing… Poem by … More Institutions are Heading Somewhere
Isn’t life on this planet all about trying to be decent to one another? I mean just be nice. That sounds good, but can you be decent to everyone? Every day, every person, no holding back despite what kind of adversity your face. Can you be decent to her when she won’t apologize for what … More Love > Nice
“There is only one Jesus, and there is only one history. The question is whether the faith that finds its focus in Jesus is the faith with which we seek to understand the whole of history, or whether we limit this faith to a private world of religion and hand over the public history of … More Sharing Faith
Rev. Shawn J. Smith 