This past week, as I scrolled through my Facebook feed, a picture called out to me—and so I stopped—and I looked—and I just lost myself in the scene. The picture showed a little girl—a bit over two years old—touching an ornament on her Christmas tree. Everything about the picture is perfect—a barefoot toddler stands on […]
Love Big, Be Well: An Interview with Winn Collier
Winn Collier’s new book, Love Big, Be Well, is as profound as it is moving. I have admired Winn’s writing since I stumbled upon his blog several years ago. Not only does he scratch out beauty with his words, but he has a way of helping you see the beauty of your ordinary life. Winn’s new book […]
Is Now Your Time to Sing?
This is the time of year when tables are spread and saints are remembered, when stories are told and songs fill the air. In these days, the distance between the past and the future disappears. In the upstairs hallway of my grandparents’ house, there was a metal grate that would let the heat from below warm the […]
The World Waits for Your “And Yet”
We are living in an age when words have become cheap and beauty eludes us. We’ve been in this place myriad times before in human history. But it just seems different now. While I long for people whose words are vessels of truth and grace, I hear only the silence. And while I search for […]
Beverly Discovered the One Thing Worth Getting Out of Worship
Some radicals get the title because of the words they speak. But the best radicals—the ones who change your understanding of the world—sneak up on you, not with their words, but with the beauty of their lives. Beverly St. John was the best kind of radical. As her pastor for almost a decade, I marveled […]
A Pastoral Letter in Response to Hate and Violence
The following post was originally sent as a pastoral letter to the people of Massanutten Presbyterian Church from my colleague, Pastor Ann, and me. I particularly encourage you to check out her reflections from her time in Charlottesville. John P. Leggett Even though evil’s tragic history is well known, the violent events that took […]