Chewing the Cud

  • Turkey Stock Spirituality

    November 27, 2014 James, a neighbor from down the road, and I visited over coffee last Tuesday at the Cougar Den. I watched a young man walk in, his Resistol worn and dirty, the Carhartt wore in but not tattered, and his boot and jeans muddy below the knee. I wondered if he had been…

  • The Warming Fire

    November 19, 2014 (Updated) Each year American Indian Heritage Month arrives and each year I find the writing I make public, hard. When temperatures just outside the farmhouse window linger in the single digits, I prefer to write of warm ideas, considerations, actions, and seasons. I believe it is my good fortune is to live…

  • Great Music is Country Music

    November 16, 2014 All great music is country music. From Handles Water Music to Guy Clark’s Homeless, music that matters is music of landscape. The landscape sings. Not metaphorical nor exacting music, rather the song of landscape rises from the mystical space of experiential and Déjà vu, from space known and unknown. Landscape singing tells…

  • Considering Weakness and Apathy

    November 9, 2014 I found Bill Running Wolf Davis’ essay Disciples Missional Tokenism to American Indians: Legacy of the Doctrine of Christian Discovery posted on the Facebook Page Disciples Exchange last October 9. During the essay Running Wolf raises a number of questions and makes a few comments about the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) (Disciple(s))…

  • Beefing Up Justice

    November 02, 2014 Two questions often asked: “Do you have cows? And, do you raise your beef from babies?” My answer: “No, I don’t have cows. And, no I don’t raise our steers from babies.” Inevitably the next question is, “Why?” Good question. “Why,” teases out a little more information that often gets to the…