Jo PageApr 25, 20193 minSanctuary?Somebody asked me what I thought about the fire that very nearly destroyed Notre Dame Cathedral, but there is no easy answer. Because onc...
Jo PageApr 23, 20193 minWoven WitnessWomen's History Month has concluded (with the same small fanfare that inaugurated it) and you'll get no flack from me about that. It's no...
Jo PageMar 9, 20193 minJust Kon-Do It!I stood in front of my newly cleaned refrigerator a few nights ago admiring the gleaming shelves emptied now of past-due holiday detritus...
Jo PageFeb 27, 20193 min"Save Me from Bloody Men" - Psalm 59:2The other day I was talking to a retired pastor who sings in the same chorus I do. “Remember the weird things you used to get in your off...
Jo PageFeb 13, 20193 minValentines Abounding!I In a church I once served, we held a Sunday evening service that looked nothing like a regular church service and during it we also did...
Jo PageJan 31, 20194 minNot What She SeemsStory from the first church I served. The parish register: The parish register is an enormous book in which church membership, weddings, ...
Jo PageJan 4, 20193 minFlight RisksIf you were to come to the church I serve, you would find that it is not a quiet place. There are several reasons for this. Two years ago...
Jo PageDec 18, 20182 minA Sestina for Saint LucyA sestina is a mad-crazy French poetic form--thirty lines with six repeated words that end each line. Makes no sense. I love it. It's a p...
Jo PageDec 6, 20183 minRed HerringA few weeks ago I colored my hair red. I had always loved my mother’s and my sister’s red hair and my other sister’s ashy blonde. As the ...
Jo PageNov 28, 20183 minWhen Love is Not LovingA dozen years ago or so it was well-known that the Albany, New York Episcopal Diocese tended not to ordain women. But I was scheduled to ...
Jo PageNov 15, 20182 minFirst ThanksgivingsThe very first Thanksgiving I spent away from my family, I was living in Kurt Cobain’s home-town of Aberdeen, Washington. It was not a pr...
Jo PageOct 28, 20189 minTree of Life - sermon, St. John's-on-Sand-CreekI hope and I pray that the majority of Christian pastors who put their well-crafted sermons to bed on Wednesday or Thursday afternoon or ...
Jo PageOct 18, 20183 minTravel RestrictionsNearly a dozen years ago, the mother of the man I was seeing died pretty suddenly. We made haste for Pittsburgh, booking plane tickets ri...
Jo PageOct 4, 20183 minTied Up in "Nots"The day before Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavenaugh went before the Senate Judicial Committee, I went to meet a friend for coffee. O...
Jo PageSep 15, 20183 minHope = Things Done Together?The thing about getting older is that you rue the return of the weird things. Such as: I remember when macramé plant hangers and table sk...
Jo PageSep 7, 20183 minNew HopeSeventh grade was a formative time in my development. In addition to the fact that my mother used to make me drink hot prune juice as a r...
Jo PageSep 1, 20183 minVintage Stone Slippers (circa 2010)In Abraham Verghese’s novel, Cutting for Stone, the miserly, mythical Baghad merchant, Abu Kassem, wore tattered and torn slippers—object...
Jo PageAug 14, 20182 minCape AnnI think I don't vacation well. At least, not here. Not where I am now. Which is, ostensibly, on vacation. I think I know why. I've been h...
Jo PageJul 26, 20183 minThe Health of Planned ParenthoodSeveral years ago on successive Thursdays I congregated, along with other clergy and other supporters of their services, in front of Plan...
Jo PageJul 8, 20183 minWatch Yr. Ps and Qs. And Save Your PTLs.Please. If you want to show how holy you are or impress people with the sincerity and fidelity of your faith, just—please—stop peppering ...