All Purls. No Swine.
The church of my childhood was St. Mary’s, Handsworth, just outside Birmingham, in England. Although I probably attended services there only a few dozen times, while we stayed with Granny and Grandpa during my father’s infrequent “leave” periods from the Colonial Service in Nigeria, it was a bulwark of stability in my life. Like the… Continue reading The Power, and the Glory, of the Word
I offer you another seasonal post, this one of which was first published on Ricochet eight Decembers ago. In fact, it was one of my first posts on the site, after I'd worked up the nerve--having been there for a couple of years, lurking and making the occasional tentative comment--to start writing my heart out. … Continue reading Putting Up the Christmas Tree
Time, I think, to re-post this. Something I put up here more than a year ago--on August 25, 2020--at which point it was exactly two years since I'd first posted it on Ricochet. I guess what I'm saying is that the facts, information, and sentiment expressed here are some 3 1/4 years old. But, in… Continue reading Occasional Quote of the Day: On Forgiving
Fifty-eight years ago today (November 22, 1963) Clive Staples Lewis departed this earth, within only a few hours of the man whose death owns this day. (Same same Aldous Huxley.) And yet. When asked some years before that fateful date, what might be Christianity's unique contribution amongst the religions of the world, Lewis had (to… Continue reading Musical Mondays: Amazing Grace
I vote: Envy. (Justification to follow at some point.) You? For clarification, and a starting point, from an old edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica--not so much (like the King James Bible) "the actual words Christ spoke" but close, and as described by Pope Gregory the Great in the 6th Century AD, your choices are: vainglory,… Continue reading Headscratcher: What’s the Greatest “Deadly Sin?”
In the eyes of this crazy British lady (for that is what I am, all rumors to the contrary notwithstanding), I think the wearer of The Crown (The. Real. One.) outdid herself today with her annual Christmas message. Delivered perfectly–she’s 94 years old, for Pete’s sake, and puts almost any decades-younger American politician that springs readily… Continue reading Take That, Netflix!!
Eight days after I began work there, as the organization’s first staff member dedicated to supporting its personal computer users, the unionized employees at my local community hospital went on strike. It was February 1, 1990. Early that morning, as instructed, I drove across a picket line for the first time in my life, showing… Continue reading “The Doors of Hell Are Locked On the Inside”
I returned home late Saturday night from a new and wonderful experience--spending the Jewish Sabbath with a delightful family and friends who, until now, I'd known only online. My friends are shomer Shabbos, when means that they observe the Jewish commandments regarding the Sabbath, and they follow the rituals that govern it from nightfall on… Continue reading Good Shabbos, Good Slippers: From Warm Hearts to Warm Feet
RWKJ's note: Please forgive me for republishing this oldie but goodie, which originally appeared on Ricochet a year or so ago. The sentiments expressed, as they relate to the obligations, permanency, and sacredness of the marital compact between a man and a woman, are close to my heart, especially at the moment. I was lucky… Continue reading In Praise of Proverbs 31
Earlier this week (August 12, 2020, to be exact), first thing in the morning, I eagerly downloaded my email and clicked to open my Morning Jolt of Good News, a daily bulletin I receive from the Good News Network. It generally cheers me up, as I contemplate the other daily trials, tribulations, and botherations of… Continue reading Not-The-Good News Network?