I’ve been away from my writing for a while. I’ve been busy with any number of matters that put me into a rhythm different from my writing rhythm. But I’ve been thinking a lot about church. If the church is indeed declining in numbers and influence, as so many are arguing, how can this be a good thing for us?

I find myself longing for quiet this morning. Do you ever have that feeling? Oh it’s plenty quiet inside and out in our home this early in the morning, but somehow I am not quiet. I’m stirring. Too much going on, I suppose. Once again maybe I’ve tackled way more than I should. So underneath it all there is this stirring of unquiet.

Early each morning I receive a post from Father Patrick van der Vorst with his selection of a painting for the day. His choice each day is accompanied by a Scripture reading chosen from the lectionary. His blog site is called Christian Art. I aspire to know a small measure of what he knows about both Scripture and painting.

Shakespeare provides me an apt description of how I sometimes go to bed:   

Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed,
The dear repose for limbs with travel tired;
But then begins a journey in my head,
To work my mind, when body’s work’s expired. Sonnet 27

Do you too sometimes take a journey in your head when you hit the pillow? I know exactly what Shakespeare’s talking about.