A Prayer of Thanks for Grand Central Station on its Centenary

Great Designer, we give you thanks for the Beaux in the Arts, the clock in the center, the station grand and central by design, the tick of the clock rushing us to track 19, leaving no time to buy...

Jesus at Table

I read something about transubstantiation in the New York Review of Books. Transubstantiation is the idea that Jesus is real in the Mass, substantially, and that a kind of magic happens in the Mass, performed by a priest, that changes bread and wine into Jesus. The NYR...

Be Not Afraid
Psalm 46:1-2

By Ron Buford and Donna Schaper

A Boston policeman, right after the blast, said, "I need all the lanes open here." He meant it. His wise, if exhausted, command goes straight to why we all need to run in the Boston marathon next year,...

Immigrations are a blessing, not a curse. They are assets, not deficits. While they live with constant trepidation about whether their children will be separated from them, while many have been picked up for small offenses, like traffic violations and gone to jail only to luckily be released, they have...

This week I could refine my Easter messages. Or my Maundy Thursday or Good Friday service. I could surely sign more petitions about gun control or work harder on getting a date with Senator Schumer - my senator who spends more time dealing with the gang of 8 than he...

It would have been better if I got the boob song out of my mind before today. Ignoring the way it busted in on me would be the higher wisdom. Plus, its days later, and its cup size in the average person's hands has gone from a D to a...

The first thing that happened this morning at 7 a.m. was that my 7-year-old neighbor, Zoe, ran out to visit me in my car, where I was charging my cell phone with my car charger and getting what news I could off the radio. Zoe said, "Let's go to Stuy...

Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum announced that this presidential race is about theology, and he is right. We may differ on the right to an abortion, on the injuries of capitalism, even on the adequacy of the president's theology. But we agree that theology is the core of our argument.

Why in the middle of the night? Why with so much police power? Why did they think they had to shove people out? The good news is that this action, so unnecessary, will build the movement even more. Yes, the people in the park had become tired, irritable, a little...

When the paper Mache golden calf arrived at the church, it looked ever so much like the Wall Street Bull. I am not secretly cursing. The calf animal looked like a bull animal. Our choir director and one of our ministers carried it on their shoulders, from its rented van...

We live in a culture that leaves us starved for time. Technology lets us work 24/7 and the boundaries between home and work have dissolved. Perhaps we need to invent some new ways of keeping the Sabbath. Here are some practical suggestions to get you started:.

1. Give yourself permission...

When we get bored by both Fox News and MSNBC, and realize that CNN's middle is a muddle, a closer walk with Jesus sharpens our attention. Consider first the debt ceiling, then political polarization and the strangely popular new topic of queer gender bending.

Jesus always spent more than he...

If you want a closure beyond revenge, check out Carla Shapiro's hand calligraphed obituaries of those who died on 9 - 11.

We often talk about terrible tragedy as the time when the artists have to do our work for us. I am thinking now of Carla Shapiro, (Carla Shapiro.org)...

I was saved early by Jesus. I didn't know it was him then, and I am not entirely sure it is him now. Certainty about Jesus has never been our bond. Instead, warmth and trust come to mind.

Our relationship began on a tough night. The pastor of my...

The following is reprinted with permission from Religion Dispatches. You can sign up for their free daily newsletter here.

I used to be angry, now I am apoplectic. I also used to be fraulein and now I am a frau. I used to be a mademoiselle and now...

The Cordoba Initiative, led by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, wants to build a Community Center at Ground Zero. The Initiative is an established mosque in Tribeca, the New York City neighborhood around the corner from Ground Zero. For 23 years they have worshiped in the neighborhood and been a part...

Breaking news that physicians were involved in medical experiments on people already being tortured leads us again to a place beyond right and wrong. That place is called sin. Sin is strong enough to approximate dehumanization. St. Paul was brilliant when he spoke of sin as the things that we...

Senator Schumer's Amnesia is heard in Arizona.

My name is Donna Osterhoudt Schaper, and I am a German immigrant. That means many things, including a tendency to enjoy Bach and to be proud of Einstein. I also like a good Sauerbraten and I don't like silence. I can't forget how...

I don't usually listen to Glenn Beck. It just happened tonight. He was raving about how Obama is indoctrinating students...and he misquoted scripture. Not just a little but a lot.

He quoted a minor passage which had to do with obedience to parents. He forgot to mention the words of...

Some people aren't going to be well, no matter how good the bill is or isn't. We need the very best bill -- and we need a little less, which is more.

Start with the word stress. If the various health Mafioso's could stop guilting people about the stress roots...