by ccvadmin | Jul 29, 2020 | News
Daily Word of Grace # 97 (July 29, 2020) One of the best known poems of the nineteenth century American poet Walt Whitman (1819-1892) is entitled “Song of Myself.” It is divided into fifty-two sections (perhaps to match the fifty-two weeks of a year) and throughout...
by ccvadmin | Jul 28, 2020 | News
Daily Word of Grace # 96 (July 28, 2020) On their 1992 album Automatic for the People REM has a comforting song called “Everybody Hurts” that goes right to the heart. Lead singer Michael Stipe sings, “When your day is long and the night, the night is yours alone. ...
by ccvadmin | Jul 27, 2020 | News
Daily Word of Grace # 95 (July 27, 2020) In his moving and evocative 2007 book Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time Rob Sheffield writes about the tragic unexpected death of his wife Renee. They had been married five years when she died of a...
by ccvadmin | Jul 24, 2020 | News
Daily Word of Grace # 94 (July 24, 2020) Many consider James Joyce’s 1922 novel Ulysses as one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century. It is a brilliant though difficult book for sure, but full of insights into the human condition, like this one: “There are...
by ccvadmin | Jul 23, 2020 | News
Daily Word of Grace # 93 (July 23, 2020) The moving Broadway musical Hamilton is about Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804). It includes a song called “Unimaginable” that is sung late in the play after Alexander Hamilton has been found out about his extramarital affair and...
by ccvadmin | Jul 22, 2020 | News
Daily Word of Grace # 92 (July 22, 2020) One of the best known Romantic poets is William Blake (1757-1827). In his poem “To Nobodaddy” he described love this way: “Love to faults is always blind, Always is to joy inclined, Lawless, wing’d & unconfin’d, And breaks...
by ccvadmin | Jul 22, 2020 | News
Daily Word of Grace # 91 (July 21, 2020) One of the greatest double albums in rock history is the 1973 album Quadrophenia by The Who. The album recounts the search for meaning by an adolescent named Jimmy. At the root of his struggles is the desire to be really...
by ccvadmin | Jul 20, 2020 | News
Daily Word of Grace # 90 (July 20, 2020) Between graduating from college and beginning parish ministry I worked as a bank teller for several months in Alexandria, Virginia. I learned very quickly that people are passionate about their money, and want to make sure...
by ccvadmin | Jul 17, 2020 | News
Daily Word of Grace # 89 (July 17, 2020) In a particularly high octane gospel parable, the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32), Jesus recounts the story of a wealthy man who had two sons: the dutiful firstborn and his slacker younger brother. In a moment of...
by ccvadmin | Jul 16, 2020 | News
Daily Word of Grace # 88 (July 16, 2020) One of the many challenges of the pandemic is the uncertainty of the future (which has always been uncertain but this uncertainty feels more pronounced right now). How many of us have made plans this year only to change,...
