by Mark Beckwith | Aug 8, 2023 | Uncategorized
“No killer statements”, we agreed would be the first rule we would follow in our time together on a retreat with a group of teenagers and a few adult chaperones. A killer statement was anything that was said that demeaned, dismissed, or denied someone else. Our...
by Mark Beckwith | Aug 1, 2023 | Uncategorized
“Don’t fix it if it ain’t broke,” Office of Management and Budget Director Bert Lance said at a Congressional hearing in 1977. I don’t remember what the hearing was about, but along with millions of others, I easily recall the phrase. Most of us don’t refer to it...
by Mark Beckwith | Jul 25, 2023 | Uncategorized
“What is truth?” Pilate asks Jesus. (John 18:38) I think Pilate really wanted to know. At that time and place, truth was in short supply. The world Pilate lived in, and had authority over, was in constant tension. The higher-ups in Rome didn’t care what Pilate...
by Mark Beckwith | Jul 18, 2023 | Uncategorized
“It’s putting purity over progress”, one commentator wrote in response to the Congressional Freedom Caucus’ amendments to the Defense Appropriation Bill. While the legislation barely cleared the House, analysts have uniformly predicted that the add-ons have no chance...
by Mark Beckwith | Jul 11, 2023 | Uncategorized
“You are the largest volunteer organization in the world,” Jonathan Sacks remarked to an audience of 1000 at the conference of Anglican bishops in 2008, held in Canterbury England. “You have to stay together for the sake of the rest of us”, he pleaded,...
by Mark Beckwith | Jul 4, 2023 | Uncategorized
On July 4th, I will have been the fourth of forty-one readers of the Declaration of Independence, a public event held every year in the Jaffrey NH meeting house, the frame of which was erected in 1775. The reading will be followed by an ice cream social, and the...
