Wednesday February 12 is the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday. The Jersey City Lincoln Association—the oldest continuously celebrating organization in the country—has commemorated every birthday since his death in 1865. They have asked me to offer a blessing.

Today is the anniversary of Norman Rockwell’s birthday. One of his most well-known paintings is of a little girl being escorted by Federal Marshals to elementary school. That was less then 65 years ago…

There have been 47 American Presidents; but just 6 poems read at their inaugurations.

We’re going to need more poems.

Otherwise, it’s politics, or current events, or the weather that’s driving what we hear and see…that’s not beauty that we are in the presence of—it’s something else.

With Praise to walk forward and extend a hand

First thoughts and second actions

Throw kindness around like confetti!

You never know where the kindness ends up.

This moment, the one Jesus speaks of, “today in your hearing” is going to require us to draw from the wells of the deepest spirituality.

Hurt people hurt people.

Healed people help people.

Most people have unprocessed trauma.

So laugh, yup, and get to work….

“May you live as long as you want;

and not want for as long as you live.”

~an Irish toast

Bread, cinnamon, eggs, and maple syrup.

~French toast.

What if the polite, orthodox tradition of religious interpretation isn’t the only version?

“People have an idea that the preacher is an actor on a stage and they are the critics, blaming or praising him. What they don’t know is that they are the actors on the stage; the preacher is merely the prompter standing in the wings, reminding them of their lost lines.” -Søren Kierkegaard