Dinner at the top of the Hancock Building? Party at Union Station? Nope. I’m settled in on the couch with my husband and a happy cat, watching TV and salivating over the scent of a perfect pot of chili. We are staying in, and cooking “Chicagoland ChiliMac” from Jane and Michael Stern’s Chili Nation (a [...]
Friday, my regular day off, has been frittered away on the couch. Although, I suppose it counts as good spousal bonding time since Erik was sitting next to me. Erik chose to watch James Bond movies. I read through several months’ worth of a blog by a woman who placed her child in an open [...]
This afternoon, Erik and I picked up 5 organ pipes,wood flutes, that we purchased on Tuesday. My parents alerted us when they saw them for sale at Architechtural Artifacts. A few years ago, they bought several pipes at another architechtural salvage place in Chicago and hung them as a series of wall-mounted shelves in their [...]
Luke 2:1-20 Vespers, Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago I will admit to an inordinate love for Christmas music. I’ve been known to extend the playing time of my Christmas CDs well into February. On Christmas Eve day, at about 10:00am, I am generally glued to the to radio to listen to the year’s live broadcast of [...]
Here it is, the perfect background music for Christmas-sermon composing. The King’s College, Cambridge Festival of Lessons and Carols is on WFMT radio. King’s does the orginal lessons and carols service. And no one does it better. Someday, I want to wait in line for hours and actually be there. I am an enourmous fan [...]
I’ll admit it. The Sunday night sermon has suffered for the past week at the expense of other things. Tomorrow morning, the sermon gets done, whether the Spirit is moving vigorously or not. The problem is the other things have been good things. Here’s a list: Wednesday was completely dedicated to excavating my cubicle at [...]
For just over a year, I’ve been engaged in a process I fondly refer to as “Presbyquest.” I was ordained as a minister in the Christian Reformed Church two years ago, but I was finding it difficult to find a position in parish ministry, and to find any position where I could remain within a [...]
A week and a half ago, I received word that one of my former students died in his sleep. James was a senior this year at the school where I taught religion for two years. My colleagues and friends who are still there sound exhausted. I am sure that the students are devasted. James was [...]