Journal

Weird stuff in the woods

Having been a photojournalist for most of my life, I usually make pictures to tell a story to others. But over the last couple of years, I’ve realized that some pictures aren’t necessarily meant to tell a story at all—I make them as a spiritual or emotional response to the world around me. The pictures might tell a story to another person, or they may never make it out of my camera. I make them because, before my eyes, something in me recognized and responded to God’s presence.

Easter 2016—Sumud

A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, “Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will say to the mountains,’Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!'”

“I have set you an example…”

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. – John 13:12-17

Light and Salt

Leonita Mugofwa will be presenting the evening service, entitled “Joyfully Believing,” at the USFWI/QMI 45th Triennial Conference this July. In anticipation, Minga Claggett-Borne sent us this story about Leonita’s work that she wrote several years ago. She interviewed Leonita in 2012.—ed.

Isolated

I LOVE winter walks, especially in the snow. They are so solitary and full of beauty. Potential beauty. I can almost feel the pulsating of the life growing down under the dead and lifeless. This withered stump undulated when I could see it with my heart.

Under God’s Wings

We have an improbable seven chickens in our household. They’re fascinating to watch, all the time, but I found them particularly interesting in the first few months after we let them out of the brooder and into the wild expanse of the backyard. Fluffy butts bobbed in the air as they searched for treats in the dirt, pecked at my garden, and stopped to smell the dandelions.