The Commons

There is a tale from Tanzania about a woman who was asked why she always carried the Bible around with her, and never any other books. She replied, “You can always read books; only the Bible reads you.”  

A Sunday School teacher was talking to a class of five-year-olds about the Ten Commandments. “Can you give me a commandment with only four words?” she asked. “I know,” said a little girl: “Keep off the grass.” The discussion turned to family and the teacher brought in the commandment, “Honor…

A woman was listening to Sunday’s homily from the pastor who was preaching on Peter’s mother-in-law who was ill with a fever. She found it boring, so she left the church unfulfilled.  Consequently, she decided to go to church again, this time out of city to a church where she…

A middle-aged Barnes & Noble customer was expressing her obvious annoyance to one of the store clerks. “Every time I come in here to buy a best-seller, you are ‘sold out,’” she scolded. “Why can’t your management learn to stock your shelves more efficiently?” “And what is the title you…

Rabbi Joshua ben Karhah was once asked, “Why did the Holy One, blessed be he, speak to MRabbi Joshua ben Karhah was once asked, “Why did the Holy One, blessed be he, speak to Moses out of a thornbush?” The rabbi replied “To teach you that there is no space…

There is a great sermon lurking in this poem. You could title it “Keep the Light On . . .” “In my dream my child was young again and came to our room, frightened, in the night. I lifted him onto the couch, covering him, tucking, murmuring, love pouring down,…

A little boy’s father had been killed in the Iraq War before the boy had ever known him. All he had was a picture of his father, which was placed on an end table in the living room right under the light. One day he said to his mother: “I…

When Mary visited Elizabeth’s home in the Judean hills, it was a 70 mile trip on roads filled with residents and transients, bandits and soldiers. But this Jordan road also passed some towns famous in Israelite history: Shechem, where Abram and Sarai built an altar. Jericho, where Joshua led the…

“Let me not wrap, stack, box, bag, tie, gag, bundle, seal, keep Christmas. Christmas kept is liable to mold. Let me give Christmas away, unwrapped by exuberant armfuls. Let me share, dance, live Christmas unpretentiously, merrily, responsibly with overflowing hands, tireless steps and sparkling eyes. Christmas given away will stay…

“From the Christian point of view there is no special problem about Christmas in a prison cell. For many people in this building it will probably be a more sincere and genuine occasion than in places where nothing but the name is kept. That misery, suffering, poverty, loneliness, helplessness, and…