Can we just banish the term “lay person”? I’m serious. Even though I grew up with this term, know more or less just what it means, and tend to use it myself, I still think it’s high time to get rid of it. Why? Because it sets up a dichotomy between those who are experts and, well, those who most decidedly are not. Not sure what I mean? Then just tell me what “lay person” means in the first place. Those reading this blog who have spent some time in seminary might be quick to remind me that it comes from the Greek word “laos” which means people. Okay, fine. Now tell me what “lay person” means to anyone who hasn’t studied...

The weather took a turn this week, dropping from near eighty degrees on Wednesday to a high in the low forties on Thursday and Friday. I know it will likely warm up, at least a bit, but it sure feels like we’ve turned the corner and cannot count on seeing the warm sunny days we’ve enjoyed of late for another six months. And it’s been windy. The kind of wind that blows leaves in swirls and makes it nearly impossible to rake. All of which put me in mind of A. A. Milne’s “Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day,” which isn’t a poem, or even a book, of course, but Disney’s animated movie based on several A. A. Milne’s Pooh...