Tag: Maplewood
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Processing bin Laden’s Death in a Spiritual Context
The Rev. Bernard Poppe, my priest and friend, is more liberal than I am. (Ditto for 98% of his flock in the deep blue town of Maplewood, NJ.) So when Bernie started his sermon on Sunday by indicating he had mixed feelings about the death of Osama bin Laden, I was prepared to sit politely in silent disagreement.
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Preparations for Easter at St. George’s
Much thanks to Maplewood Patch editor Mary Mann for taking the visual images from St. George’s Palm Sunday observance and turning it into a spritely and thorough announcement of the upcoming Easter services. Cranky political commentary will resume here soon. In the meantime, may Holy Week and Easter be a time of reflection and renewal […]
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They Looked at a Hillside and Envisioned a Church
Nearly nine decades ago some citizens of Maplewood, New Jersey came together in a spirit of faith and community to begin planning a major new Episcopal church on a wooded hillside off of Ridgewood Road. The parish traces its roots back to just after the Civil War, but the cornerstone for the current building was […]
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Martin Luther King, Jr.: Preacher, Activist, Martyr… and American
At church today I had the privilege of reading excerpts, from the lectern, of one of the greatest speeches in American history. I was worried that I wouldn’t make it all the way through without crying. I have a Boehner-like tendency to dissolve in tears on solemn occasions — not just at funerals, but also […]
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Darwinian Selection in the Maplewood BlogolopolisTM
Big cyber-news today in Maplewood, NJ, the place one blogger once called “the center of the blogging universe.” The New York Times abruptly shuttered The Local, its New Jersey experiment in hyperlocal blogging. I’ve chronicled the Maplewood BlogolopolisTM here, here, here and here. Instead of just shutting down, the NYT is passing its baton to […]
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Honest Labor: From Mach 2 to Muenster to Madison
In which your scribe rediscovers the redemptive power of work.
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Today’s NJ Gay Marriage Vote Hurts Real People
Same-sex marriage is a straightforward civil rights issue, and the only acceptable outcome is full marriage equality. I believe I’ll see it in my lifetime. But New Jersey took a step in the wrong direction today, and I weep for my friends.
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Civil Rights, and the Intersection of Race and Sexual Orientation
Not long after the Presidential election last year, the Web Goddess and I had dinner with four of our closest friends, who happen to be a black couple and a lesbian couple. There was exactly one McCain voter in the room.
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“For I Was a Stranger, and You Took Me In”
For more than 20 years my church has been a part of the Interfaith Hospitality Network, which provides temporary shelter for homeless families. Last week I had a chance to meet and talk with some of our IHN guests.
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Witnessing a Step Toward Marriage Equality in NJ
The Web Goddess and I journeyed to Trenton yesterday in support of marriage equality for same-sex couples. (The picture makes me look fatter than I am.) Pictured in the background is our priest, Father Bernie Poppe. A Senate committee approved the bill, which is to be voted on by the full Senate on Thursday. My […]