There is a door on Bedford Street with no sign. It has never had one. For a hundred years, you had to already know it was there. To find Chumley’s, you needed to be initiated — told by a friend, a lover, a fellow traveler of the night. This was not a place that advertised…
Growing up on Christmas Eve, my family did what so many Italian families do—what generations before us had done, what the old country had taught us to do without ever needing to write it down or explain it in words that could be forgotten. Yes, there was fish, always fish. Baccalà soaking in its milky…
It has been a while since I last posted here. Not because the well ran dry, but because discernment is holy work, and sometimes the Spirit asks us to pause before speaking again. Thoughts, Prayers, and Art has always been a place where faith meets the real world, where Scripture is allowed to wrestle with…
I know the grief that makes you feel like your chest has been hollowed out.I know the rage that burns so hot it feels like the only thing that will cool it is revenge.In the wake of October 7th, I have heard voices, though not all, cry, Let the children of Gaza starve. Words like…
“Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?”We will, with God’s help.These words are not a suggestion. They are a vow. A sacred promise made at the waters of our baptism, a holy agreement between the baptized and the God who liberates. These words are…
Last night, I dreamed a dream.I was walking down a narrow alley,wet with rain and shadow,the kind of alley that smells of rust and old bread,the kind of place where the world throws awaywhat it doesn’t want to see.And there He was.A boy, maybe ten years old.Barefoot.Eyes wide, brown as fresh earth after rain.Tears had…
Every few days, someone jumps into my comments trying to argue scripture with me, defending Israel’s violence or America’s “Christian roots” as if God has somehow blessed empires. I don’t argue back. I delete the comments. Because this isn’t a debate, it’s desecration. Zionists have done to the Torah what Christian Nationalists have done to…
The Truth We Must Name There is a sickness in our nation we can no longer sanitize with polite language: The United States government—through ICE, through its contracts with private prison corporations, through its policies driven by profit is participating in human trafficking. Yes, I said it. And I will keep saying it. When human…
A Pastoral Poem for Gaza, the Refugee, and the Crucified TruthThey say I’m radicalbecause I cry for Gazabecause I see Godin the dust-covered lashesof a child whose only sinwas being born beneath the wrong flag,under a sky that remembers warmore than rain.They say I’m radicalbecause I still flinchwhen drones hum like insects overheadeven when they’re…
I looked, and behold: a valley of bones.Ezekiel saw them onceI see them now.A battlefield not ancient,but modern.Not myth,but Monday.Streets lined with ash.Towers crumbled like pride.Flags torn on twisted metalas if heaven itself refusedto bless this blood.And thenshe rose.Not with sword,but with flame in one hand,and branch in the other.A fire that did not consumebut…