Word One  Meditation for Christmas Lessons and Carols Thompson Memorial Chapel – Williams College December 3-4, 2011               In the beginning: word.              So says the poet, anyway: the author of the Fourth Gospel – “John,” we’ll call him, though he never identifies himself in the pages he left behind.  A sage, perhaps – more »

This morning we read an excerpt from one of the portions of Genesis detailing the lifetime of Abraham.  Our reading opens with the delivery of a promise made on a Rosh Hashanah thousands of years ago—Sarah, at the age of ninety, gives birth to Isaac, “the son of Abraham’s old age,” just as God had more »

Paying Attention Meditation for Christmas Lessons and Carols Thompson Memorial Chapel – Williams College December 4-5, 2010             The Christmas story in the gospel according to Luke really begins about a chapter before the part we recognize.  We don’t actually know much about Luke – but we do know that he was at least an more »

Just a Story Meditation for Christmas Lessons and Carols Thompson Memorial Chapel – December 5-6, 2009             A call came in to the Chaplains’ Office this week from Facilities, like a cold winter blast of northeastern weather, bearing a piece of bad news.  It seems that the magnificent blue spruce tree at the corner of more »

First-year Parents Assembly for the Class of ’15 ~ Wednesday August 31 2011              Shalom.  Namaste.  Pax Vobiscum.  Salaam aleikum (and Eid Mubarak).  Peace be with you; on this day of all days in your life – peace be with you. A couple of years ago we brought a witty, wise and rumpled poet from more »

First-year Parents Assembly for the Class of 2014, Wednesday, September 1, 2010 I moved to Williamstown myself from Boston a few years ago. If you’ve come here from a city, then I bet that one of the things you noticed, too, is that there aren’t many stoplights in Williamstown. One, in fact – unless you more »

ON GUARD! Rosh Hashana 5771 Sometimes it’s hard to tell if Rosh Hashana is celebrating the end of the old year, or heralding the beginning of the new one.  Or to put it differently, are these Days of Awe like Opening Day of the baseball season, or is this the World Series?  Is this about more »

Thompson Memorial Chapel – December 6-7, 2008 As you make your way through the twilight, carefully picking your way across the paths, watching for stars, watching for ice, you can feel the sting of the freezing air as you draw it in.  The shock of cold makes you wonder about the ability of lungs to more »

Invocation In our latitude this is the season of harvests – when the sweet corn is at its sweetest, tomatoes are fairly exploding off the vines, and every one of a thousand raspberries offers a transcendental experience.  This is the time of in-gathering, barn-filling, hay-baling – when the rhythms of the land teach us gratitude more »

One of my favorite characters from the Bible is Jacob.  Jacob has rather a hard time with his family, and finally has to flee for his life after appropriating the birthright of his older brother.  When we meet up with Jacob on this journey of escape, he goes to sleep, and dreams—do you know this more »