First Presbyterian Church of Valparaiso

I think I have mentioned before that I dearly love my collection of “little books.” These are not novels or textbooks, or as my students used to call them “chapter books.” No, these are quite small, perhaps 4” by 5,” sometimes a bit larger. They sit on my desk, end tables in the living room, on my bookshelves, and sometimes I gift them to others that I think might be in need of some precious words of encouragement. My family understands my obsession with these tiny tomes, so

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”     That line made famous by Matthew Broderick as the crafty Ferris Bueller of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off ; an iconic 80’s movie classic and it is one of many 80’s movies that I can still watch at the drop of a hat! That quote from the movie could not be more fitting for today. I feel like I went to bed rounding out the Advent season and waking up to Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday…

Recent headlines reported that the Federal EPA has moved to “repeal the science” behind regulations limiting greenhouse gas emissions. The phrase is striking — “repeal the science”. Laws can be repealed. Regulations can be rewritten. But science is not a statute. It does not yield to a vote. Science is our ongoing and forever unfinished effort to describe the natural world as it is — through observation, measurement, testing, and correction. When new discoveries are made or b

Sacrament: An outward, visible sign of an inward,invisible grace. You may recognize this definition, words that describe the holy mysteries at the center of our faith. God’s love, made visible in the tangible world.   Baptism and Holy Communion are the two acts recognized as sacraments by our denomination. We experience them in the place where we expect to find them—the church—where they are communal, witnessed and shared by all who are gathered. Powerful reminders of the G

These past few weeks have been a bonanza for me since as I seem to always work in the weather in my blogs. ARCTIC COLD, HIGH WINDS, FROZEN WATER (didn’t want to use ICE), LAKE EFFECT SNOW, SUB-ZERO TEMPERATURES and more predictions of BIG STORMs coming. Scary stuff indeed. But, hey, this year is just one of the normal winters we used to have but have not seen the last two years.   Those of us who don’t escape to warmer climates have our shovels, snowblowers, mittens, scarves,

One of the great joys of my life has been leading the Wednesday morning Faithful Friends Bible study. We gather together to pray, sing, tell stories, laugh…it is a wonderful hour of fellowship and community. Most importantly, we lean in on the Scripture passages that are our focus of the day. There are two times each year when Trish and I get together to find meaningful shorter studies that we can complete in a timely way. It’s a bit more complicated than perusing the Advent,

“Sir, I’m lost can you help me with directions?” It was late in the afternoon on Halloween and the chill in the air was noticeable as the sunlight faded quickly. But the knock at our door wasn’t from a trick or treater getting an early start, it was from a soft-spoken teenage boy shifting his backpack to rest it on our front sidewalk. “Sure,” I said, “can you show or tell me what the address is?” When he did, I pulled out my phone and opened the map app, only to discover that

I truly enjoy writing a blog once every eight weeks or so. It causes me to reflect and consider what might be of interest and therefore read by folks…and how I might make it interesting.      The season of Advent is always, OK…let’s agree on is usually, a time filled with a lot of hustle & bustle as we prepare for family time either at our place or theirs, and a time of trying to determine what the appropriate gift, or gifts, will be for each person we are buying for. Decisio

Perfectly Flawed…That’s me, Perfectly Flawed and I am perfectly fine with that! What is she talking about this time?! Well, I am glad you asked. Wednesday mornings at 10:00 a.m. are my very favorite part of my Wednesdays because it is the time I get to spend with the spunkiest group of ladies from the Faithful Friends Bible Study. I do believe we laugh and cut up more that we should own up to; and yet we always have the most meaningful conversations. I would not trade my Wed

I’ve become somewhat obsessed with electric candles.   Okay, more than somewhat. I have them all over the house. Pillars with what look like real flames, flickering against the dark wall. Tiny pinpoints of fairy lights—glowing in jars, on shelves, and soon, on little Christmas trees.   I suppose this has something to do with the fact that it now gets dark at 4:30 in the afternoon! And, because one of my eyes is permanently dilated, very bright light is often blinding. The so