Religion

I am always joyful when I get the opportunity to help someone in need, especially when I know what I do will be just what that person needs. When I heard about how hard Jamaica was hit by Hurricane Melissa, I started looking for...

The Father of our nation, George Washington, had a remarkable correspondence with the first Catholic Bishop in the United States, John Carroll. At the time Catholics were, at best, 1% of the population of the young nation and were living in only two states:...

Last month, you may have celebrated Saint Patrick’s Day by wearing green, drinking dyed beer, eating corned beef and cabbage or possibly pinching someone NOT wearing green. March 17 is the anniversary of Saint Patrick’s death in the year 461. The day honoring the ...

This Sunday, April 20, Christians throughout the world celebrate Easter, the resurrection of Jesus. For Christians, Easter is the most important day of the year (Christmas is a distant second) and this year all Christians celebrate it on the same day.  The date of Easter...

A few of you may have noticed the curious-looking structure that popped up outside my home recently. No, we did not embark on an overnight house expansion project. What you saw is our sukkah—a temporary structure that is the highlight of the weeklong holiday...

In the last week of June, millions of pilgrims are preparing for Hajj, the most important journey in a Muslim’s life. Hajj, the Pilgrimage to Mekka, is an epic journey. It’s the 5th and final pillar of Islam. Hajj takes Muslims on a journey back...

Methodists have long been known as “a singing people.” I am not a good singer, but I can say that I am a passionate and, hopefully in God’s ears, a beautiful singer. Singing is one of the important parts of my life and in...

For followers of Jesus, Easter arrives each year with beauty and intention—sunrise services, full rooms, hopeful songs and the deep reminder that life can emerge even from death. These moments matter. They lift us, ground us and reconnect us to what is most true.  They...

In the San Francisco Bay Area, we seem to be in a bubble of more open-minded thinking and inclusion. There are other places, regions and states that seem to be filled with fear of the outsider and suspicion of neighbors of different ethnicity, national...

I was supposed to be in Israel today. To be precise, this morning, I was going to wake up in a quaint hotel near the Old City of Safed, enjoy a delicious breakfast al fresco while taking in the mountaintop views, tour the Artists' Quarter,...