by Toni McNaron | Aug 13, 2018 | Uncategorized
At my church, between the homily and the Eucharist, a member of the congregation stands in the pulpit and reads a series of petitions to which we in the pews respond “Lord, hear our prayer.” Though all the rest of the service follows a beautiful ritual...
by Toni McNaron | Aug 12, 2018 | Uncategorized
A while back, I wrote about my mother’s elaborately designed garden as one avenue where she could express her creativity. Doing that has brought her back to mind. Because she died fifty-four years ago and because we had a seriously tangled relationship, I have...
by Toni McNaron | Aug 5, 2018 | Uncategorized
My maternal grandparents, my parents, my sister and brother-in-law are all buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham, Alabama. When that cemetery was first constructed and for many years afterwards, it served funeral needs of very wealthy and prominent white citizens...
by Toni McNaron | Jul 30, 2018 | Uncategorized
In many churches yesterday, congregants heard the story of feeding the thousands, supposedly, with “five barley loaves and two fish.” Some years ago, as I listened to the account of this event in John’s Gospel, I thought to myself “I bet lots...
by Toni McNaron | Jul 22, 2018 | Uncategorized
I recently blogged about how disorienting it can be to lose an architectural structure that has provided something to stop our eyes and send back a familiar message–an echo. Now I want to speak to another kind of echo that enlivens me because it suggests a...
