A single line from Wendell Berry’s “Jayber Crow” is a picture of my neighborhood where I grew up. “In Port William only strangers, preachers and traveling salesmen ever went to anybody’s front door.” For us, it was the often left open side door leading into the kitchen – the heart of the house – that was the place we went in and came out. People coming to the front door were those we did not know but people coming to the side were friends, neighbors and family. The side door was for people we trusted. I’ve been turning that over in my mind this week while studying the power of…

In the last few years I have been paying closer attention to shifts affecting the American church. It’s too easy for older believers to look at another generation and say, “They’ll come around when they have a few more years of life under their belt,” but the truth is while a number of these changes are welcome, there are some that are fundamental and, honestly, concerning. One is the growing attraction to selected teachings of Jesus and an increased questioning of or even discounting those of the Apostle Paul. For a number of reasons, there is a widening divide between the influence of Jesus and that of Paul among Christians…

I’ve only served on a few boards because I do not consider myself a natural fit for board work. I always half-seriously tell people inviting me that I am not comfortable being part of any group that can vote against my opinion. As well, I am impatient with the necessary but gradual process of change. As I’ve said before, had I been coaching Jesus on his encounter with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, I would have advised him to say, “You are headed in the wrong direction.  Turn around.  Listen to what I am telling you.”  But he doesn’t.  He walks with them in the wrong direction while…

When the girls were young, the three of us took road trips over the Father’s Day week-end.  We never made plans.  We just headed out in a direction they chose and stopped when we got somewhere interesting.  One year, we wound up in Natchez, Mississippi.  Forgetting how much I love the history of a place they ended up with me on a double decker bus tour seeing all the grand homes, getting a feel for the history of Natchez and how it developed from a small huddle of tents on a riverbank in the 1700’s to become by 1850 the home of fully half the millionaires in the United States.  …

If you read “Cyrano de Bergerac” in school you may remember the pact between the misshapen poet Cyrano and the dashing young military man, Christian, who were both in love with the same woman, Roxanne. The handsome soldier was incapable of speaking his love as he was tongue-tied and clumsy with words while the ugly poet, Cyrano, was gifted with romantic language. By Christian using the words composed by his comrade standing in the shadows, together they would win the heart of the young maiden. But the result is deceit, confusion and eventual tragedy.  There are good reasons greeting cards are a $19 billion industry assisting those of us who…

Almost ten years ago, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga released “Cheek to Cheek,” their album of jazz duets. Bennett’s controlled, classy (always a coat and tie) appearance matched with Lady Gaga’s ever-changing and audacious persona would seem to be a formula for failure but it worked beautifully. Bennett later remarked that the key to a good duet is contrast along with quality material and voices that complement each other. As well, they had developed a friendship two years before that led them to want to work together on the project. It was a stretch, but two soloists found complementary partners to create a best-selling album. For some reason, listening to…

Several of my friends are beginning to say “farewell” to careers.  It’s hard to believe.  I know for many retirement is not an issue and they will be finding something productive and challenging for the next several years. Nonetheless, for everyone it is a change and a transition.  Not only are they saying farewell to work but to friends, clients, customers, donors, and people that have helped define them for so many years. The entire rhythm of life is interrupted.  For some, it comes as a shock and they are unprepared. Unfortunately, many of these experience failing health, personal disintegration, and even death shortly afterwards. In losing the why to live…

The song is so old that you cannot find the lyrics online, but in 1965 “Spider John” Koerner wrote and recorded Rent Party Rag on his first solo album. The gist of it was a story about what to do when you don’t have enough money to pay the rent. You get a barrel of beer, lots of food and some music. You tell the musicians, “I’m gonna feed you and let you drink for nothin’ and then you are “jumpin’ til the break of dawn.” You charge everyone a little to come and you have enough left over to pay your rent for the month. So simple! I’ve been…

The Kentucky River winds past Port Royal in Henry County and Wendell’s farm before it empties into the Ohio River below Cincinnati where I grew up. It was downstream in my life when I was first introduced to Wendell’s work and without our ever meeting in person his work has been a part of my life and work ever since.  All of us have origins or we can call them headwaters. We come from someplace. We have a place of beginning. It may be a spot on a map or something that from the start has defined the way we look at life. I think Wendell’s headwater is love. Not…

  To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ralph Waldo Emerson the Philosophy Department of Harvard University commissioned a new campus building for the Departments of Philosophy and Psychology. In December 1905, it was officially opened with the esteemed member of the psychology department, William James, speaking. The professors of philosophy had determined the engraved stone inscription at the top of the building was to be, “Man Is The Measure of All Things” as that would have been appropriate for such an honor. While it would be difficult to neatly summarize the work of Ralph Waldo Emerson, those words certainly reflected his own philosophy. In his lecture titled…