One afternoon the last week in April Showing Kai how to throw a hatchet One-half turn and it sticks in a stump. He recalls the hatchet-head Without a handle, in the shop And go gets it, and wants it for his own. A broken-off axe handle behind the door Is long enough for a hatchet, We cut it to length and take it With the hatchet head And working hatchet, to the wood block. There I begin to shape the old handle With the hatchet, and the phrase First learned from Ezra Pound Rings in my ears! "When making an axe handle the pattern is not far off." And I say this to Kai "Look: We'll shape ..read more

  Welcome to SALT’s “Theologian’s Almanac,” a weekly selection of important birthdays, holidays, and other upcoming milestones worth marking — specially created for a) writing sermons and prayers, b) creating content for social media channels, and c) enriching your devotional life. For the week of Sunday, May 5: May 5 is Cinco de Mayo, commemorating not Mexico’s Independence Day, as is often mistakenly thought, but rather the unlikely victory of an outmatched Mexican fighting force over France in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. France went on to win the larger conflict, occupying Me ..read more

  Sixth Week of Easter (Year B): John 15:9-17 and Acts 10:44-48 Big Picture: 1) This is the sixth of the seven weeks of Eastertide, and the third of four weeks exploring Jesus’ teachings about living in intimacy with God. Following directly on last week’s passage in which Jesus casts himself as “the vine” and the disciples as the vine’s fruitful branches, here Jesus elaborates on just what sort of “fruit” he has in mind: works of love for the sake of joy. 2) As we saw last week, the key to understanding the “farewell discourse” in John (John 14-17) is to remember that Jesus is engaged he ..read more

  Welcome to SALT’s “Theologian’s Almanac,” a weekly selection of important birthdays, holidays, and other upcoming milestones worth marking — specially created for a) writing sermons and prayers, b) creating content for social media channels, and c) enriching your devotional life. For the week of Sunday, April 30: April 30 is the birthday of Annie Dillard, American non-fiction writer and novelist. After finishing a master’s thesis on Thoreau’s Walden, she set about writing a memoir of her time living along a creek in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. She wove first-hand observations and ..read more

  What follows below is an excerpt from Dillard’s classic, The Writing Life, laid out as a poem for your reading pleasure. One of the few things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better. These things fill from behind, from beneath, like well water. Similarly, the impulse t ..read more

  Fifth Week of Easter (Year B): John 15:1-8 and Acts 8:26-40 Big Picture: 1) This is the fifth of the seven weeks of Eastertide, and the second of four weeks exploring Jesus’ teachings about living in intimacy with God. 2) The larger context in John is that Jesus is in the midst of what’s sometimes called his “farewell discourse” to the disciples, who are understandably distraught (John 14-17). Here was the Messiah, the one they’d hoped would deliver them and the whole world, the one for whom they’d given up so much — and now he's leaving? Now he's going to suffer, to be humiliated, des ..read more

  Many people long for God’s guidance, to discern a direction, a calling, a sign to help us follow the path. With this in mind, SALT teamed up with the amazing Rev. Quinn Caldwell (campus minister at Cornell University) to create a 10-minute short film and some simple, accessible, thought-provoking written materials to go with it. Imagine a personal or congregational retreat (or mini-retreat) on or shortly after Pentecost, the day the Holy Spirit’s fire helped guide the first disciples forward. And imagine a short film and conversation that helps you take that next step. Check out the sho ..read more

  Welcome to SALT’s “Theologian’s Almanac,” a weekly selection of important birthdays, holidays, and other upcoming milestones worth marking — specially created for a) writing sermons and prayers, b) creating content for social media channels, and c) enriching your devotional life. For the week of Sunday, April 21: April 21 is the birthday of naturalist John Muir, born in Dunbar, Scotland, in 1838 — though he grew up on a farm in Wisconsin. By age 11, he could recite nearly all of the Bible by heart, and his writings later in life are shot through with theological ideas. An avid inv ..read more

  In Response to a Question: ”What Does the Earth Say?” The earth says have a place, be what that place requires; hear the sound the birds imply and see as deep as ridges go behind each other. (Some people call their scenery flat, their only pictures framed by what they know: I think around them rise a riches and a loss too equal for their chart — but absolutely tall.) The earth says every summer have a ranch that’s minimum: one tree, one well, a landscape that proclaims a universe — sermon of the hills, hallelujah mountain, highway guided by the way the world is tilted, reduplication of ..read more

  Fourth Week of Easter (Year B): John 10:11-18 and Acts 4:5-12 Big Picture: 1) This is the fourth of the seven weeks of Eastertide. The gospel readings for the first three weeks were resurrection appearance stories; the next four weeks will explore Jesus’ teachings about living in intimacy with God. 2) Many early followers of Jesus would have been familiar with describing the promised messiah as a caring and skillful “shepherd”:  Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel each use such language, and likewise, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah contrast the divine shepherd with “worthless shepherd ..read more