RW-REPLACE-TOKEN ..read more

RW-REPLACE-TOKEN ..read more

..read more

..read more

On a cloudy fall day in 2021, about 100 people were praying in the only Sikh temple in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, when smoke suddenly choked the prayer hall. Worshippers covered their mouths and noses and ran outdoors as flames consumed each room. Amerjit Singh, the president of the Northern Ireland Sikh Association, made sure that everyone was safely outside before running back inside the burning building to rescue the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy scripture ..read more

In the poem “Introduction to Poetry,” Billy Collins laments his students’ tendency to approach a poem with weapons drawn. The former US poet laureate paints a portrait of the delight he hopes they will embrace when encountering verse: I ask them to take a poem and hold it up to the light like a color slide or press an ear against its hive ..read more

To receive these posts by email each Monday, sign up. For more commentary on this week's readings, see the Reflections on the Lectionary page. For full-text access to all articles, subscribe to the Century ..read more

just above the three short blocks of my little town, the oldest graves, dating from the early 1800s, are dark and covered with lichen. A few obelisks, here and there, but mostly lower stones, and one tall statue of a doughboy from the Great War, the War to End All Wars, rising above the field of granite. I am drawn to the heartbreak of the small lambs from a time when childhood was riskier.  ..read more

RW-REPLACE-TOKEN ..read more

It’s hard to know how to ask God to bless America right now. On a recent visit to the East Coast, I found friends and peers in a mixture of panic and denial about the coming November election. I did one thing on my visit, however, that gave me three thoughts about how not to feel so paralyzed. I went to church ..read more