Tomorrow marks the beginning of the Christian new year in a variety of Christian traditions. The season of Advent marks the beginning of the Christian year and leads up to the birth of Christ celebrated on December 25. Every year, sermons are preached, songs are sung and pageants are performed celebrating and re-telling the storyContinue reading “Advent and Christmas: What We Get Wrong and Why It’s Important To Tell It Right”
Author Archives: Devin Hogg
Poem: Hope Rises
Our exile drags onOne step forwardTwo step back,Sometimes feels likeWe’ll never see the end.Disasters and troublesConstantly in the news.Fear and despairAnger and griefConstantly in the air.I am overwhelmed by it all!Constantly prayingFor relief from this ordeal;For healingOf the entire world.Yet of lateDespite all logicAll evidence of my sensesI feel a stirring in my soul.Hope risesForContinue reading “Poem: Hope Rises”
On Turning The Other Cheek: Wink’s Interpretation
One of the most famous (or infamous, depending on your point of view) teachings of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount is the encouragement that when one is struck on the cheek, the thing to do is to turn the other cheek also. There have been many interpretations of this over the years. TheContinue reading “On Turning The Other Cheek: Wink’s Interpretation”
Poem: Back To Basics
I know you are weary, child.I know you are overwhelmed.Your heart is achingYour guts are clenched.Tears prick at your eyesAnd throat is tight.You are lonelyOh so lonely.Despair and grief are close at handHope is hard to choose.Breathe.Then breathe again.Come back to your center.Focus on the basicsFoundations tried and true.Before you know itBalance will be restored.
Poem: We Take What Is Given
There is it again.A pang in my heart;A well of despair.“We take what is given”,I think.Took me a whileTo understand that phrase.A call to resiliencyA declaration of hopeFor better days to come.Not a statement of greed and arrogance.Yet oh!How hard it isTo take what is givenwhen what is givenIs constant loneliness.Always to refrain from embracingToContinue reading “Poem: We Take What Is Given”
Poem: At A Loss
I have beenAt a lossFor words of late.Poetry deserts me;All I can doIs groan incoherently.How to captureThe events of these days?How to expressThe rollercoaster of highs and lows?Yet the attemptMust be made.Witness must be borne.So I pickup my pen and paperTake a breatheAnd write.Trust the SpiritTo translate groansTo good enough words.
On Jar Jar Binks, Neurodivergence, and The Value of A Nuisance
I recently read The Ultimate Star Wars and Philosophy: You Must Unlearn What You Have Learned, and was struck by near-universal hatred of the character of Jar Jar Binks. This is far from a new phenomenon in Star Wars fandom–the character was despised from his initial debut in Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace.Continue reading “On Jar Jar Binks, Neurodivergence, and The Value of A Nuisance”
Gnosticism vs. The Canon: A Comparison
I’ve been doing a lot of reading on a diverse number of topics during this pandemic and I found this little gem, the other day: A New New Testament: A Bible for the Twenty-first Century Combining Traditional and Newly Discovered Texts edited by Hal Taussig. I’ve long wanted to read the Gnostic Gospels to see whyContinue reading “Gnosticism vs. The Canon: A Comparison”
The Danger Of Full Solar Spirituality
I’ve been doing some reading of late, and I’m seeing a number of convergent messages. Recently, Mary Trump, the niece of Donald Trump, published her memoir Too Much and Not Enough: How My Family Created The World’s Most Dangerous Man that was revealing of the family structures in the immediate Trump family that shaped DonaldContinue reading “The Danger Of Full Solar Spirituality”
On Highs and Lows
The counselor looked me in the eye with great understanding as she said that I would probably have ups and downs, like a rollercoaster, for the rest of my life. There would be times I would be depressed, and there were times I wouldn’t, but they’d alternate throughout my life. This was 10 years agoContinue reading “On Highs and Lows”
The Dreamers' Corner 