Articles

When something really good happens, often someone will say, “That was a miracle!” Such a statement suggests that the good expressed is unexpected, that the universe is governed by laws of nature that have conflict and limitation built in. That the universe can be a scary place.

I love giving away flowering bulbs to my friends during the winter months. Last year, I tried to think spiritually about these flowering bulbs, to look beyond their promise of material beauty to something more substantial.

One evening, as my wife and I were going up the stairs with a crowd of people heading for a musical performance, a woman next to me stumbled and started to fall toward me. I instinctively put my hand under her elbow to prevent her from falling on the concrete steps, but she instantly pulled her arm away, saying nothing about the help I had been prepared to give her.

When I was a boy on our dairy farm, I felt the Christ touching my thought in a very clear way. My dad would send me out to the pasture to gather the cows for the evening milking, and I recall that in winter, especially on Christmas Eve, I would stop and listen to the cows patiently chomping mouthfuls of hay.

Right now, across the globe, there is a great focus on Christmas, including a particular emphasis on the tradition of gifts and gift-giving. It would seem there has been a shift away from the Christ in Christmas, toward commerce, as the measure of a successful holiday season is calculated in revenue rather than the amount of peace on earth and universal goodwill.

The following is part one of a two-part edited and abridged transcript of the 2018 Annual Meeting workshop called “Reading Rooms and Sunday Schools in today’s world. ” Please look for part two in the next issue of the Journal.

When I hurt myself as a child, often scraping my elbow or knee as I learned to roller skate, I would tearfully go to my mom or dad for comfort. I remember them giving me a gentle kiss, and it helped me calm down and feel safe and well.

The ancients who named Orion, the Pleiades, and Arcturus probably saw more stars in the night sky than we do. Our cities send up a fog of light that hides the fainter stars.

I saw a woman wearing a T-shirt the other day that said “Love is understanding. ” It got me thinking, What is the purpose of love, and how does it act? Divine Love, which is God, reaches much further and deeper than human affection.

Prophecies, promises, and proofs—the Bible is chock full of all three. “The three p ’s,” I call them.