Category Archives: Love

Between the calling and the blessing

Posted on January 29, 2017 by tam121

If ever there was a week to hold the newsfeed in one hand and the Bible in the other, with your mind in your heart and your heart in God, this was it. Let’s see what the word of God … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice, Love, Religion, Sermons, Theology | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Invocation in the days of empire

Posted on April 18, 2016 by tam121

O Holy God In this season when we are contemplating those who would lead us their gifts and their limits draw our eyes and our visions our minds and our thoughts our hearts and our love toward you. Like Hannah, … Continue reading →

Posted in Love, Politics, Religion, Spirituality | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Is this answered prayer?

Posted on September 11, 2014 by tam121

This is the time I have been working and hoping for; this is also the time I have been anticipating looking back from. I left full-time employment in 1997, and — an M.Div. and Ph.D. notwithstanding — have only worked … Continue reading →

Posted in Clinical Pastoral Education, Dogs, Doubt, Love, Parenting, Spirituality | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Friends don’t let friends get crucified …

Posted on April 17, 2014 by tam121

Maundy Thursday of Holy Week, 2014. The word “maundy” comes from the mandate Jesus gives his followers on the night of their last supper together I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have … Continue reading →

Posted in Lenten reflection, Love | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Crosspost from Christian Century: Welcome out

Posted on January 14, 2014 by tam121

When it comes to church, I’m a wanderer: I don’t have a church home so much as a village of church tents. All this wandering has made me a connoisseur of church welcomes or the lack thereof. I can tell … Continue reading →

Posted in Love, Spirituality | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Baker’s dozen: 13 things I learned in ’13

Posted on January 2, 2014 by tam121

2013 was an amazing year for me, by my own happiness index if not the world’s. No, I did not get a job (though I tried, and I will.) No, I did not travel the world or make a shit-ton … Continue reading →

Posted in Clinical Pastoral Education, Love, Parenting, Spirituality, Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Breaking the fast

Posted on July 17, 2013 by tam121

It was worth staying hungry for. Along with a few friends, I visited the Institute of Islamic and Turkish Studies last night to share in that community’s breaking of the day’s Ramadan fast. A couple of friendly gentlemen, one holding … Continue reading →

Posted in Love, Poetry, Politics, Religion, Spirituality | Leave a comment

Giving up the old …

Posted on March 20, 2013 by tam121

I have a hearing problem. An old hearing problem. It kicks up whenever someone says something nice to me about me. Perhaps you also have this hearing problem. One of the side benefits of working in a chaplaincy education program … Continue reading →

Posted in Clinical Pastoral Education, Lenten reflection, Love, Nature, Spirituality | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Giving up doubt

Posted on February 27, 2013 by tam121

It seems a little melodramatic and overwrought to say “I lost my faith.” Maybe better to say I misplaced it … for what feels like years. Maybe better to say I have felt mis-placed. That can be hard to grapple … Continue reading →

Posted in Lenten reflection, Love, Spirituality | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Never too late, never too soon

Posted on December 31, 2012 by tam121

In the early days of 2012, grieving over what wasn’t yet and some of what was, I resolved: No Excuses. Those two words have kept me moving, in times when I wasn’t sure or didn’t want to. Motion and doing … Continue reading →

Posted in Gender, Love, Spirituality | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment