By Bryan Sickbert A Nollau class member recently shared a column from Sojourners entitled “’Nones’ and the Common Good.” The column, written by Eboo Patel, a Muslim American and founder of the Interfaith Youth Core, asks the question, “What will happen to U.S. civil society as the pews empty out?” Patel cites the well-documented membership…

By Bryan Sickbert Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink. (Exodus 17:6) Water from a rock? Certainly more biblical nonsense! But the image did not seem far-fetched to me as I listened to the Old Testament Lenten reading this week (Exodus 17:1-7). Our home in southwest…

By Bryan Sickbert As once the winged energy of delight carried you over childhood’s dark abysses, now beyond your own life build the great arch of unimagined bridges. Rainer Maria Rilke This first stanza of Rilke’s poem “Once the Winged Energy of Delight,” is my favorite piece of verse. Last week, the first retreat of…

By Bryan Sickbert Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? Isaiah 43: 18-19 In these verses, the prophet reveals God’s intent to bring about a new exodus that will release Israel from exile in Babylon and…