While my time as youth minister is over, maybe I’m not done ministering to youth after all. Because they are certainly not done ministering to me.

When I try to follow it as long as I can downstream, my schooling in river beauty and river wisdom leads me to this hope and prayer: let us then, like the salmon leaping against the current and over the ledge, leap finally beyond the metaphor and the simile when it comes to our embodied consciousness of nature.

We must have imagination, and that includes in our spiritual life. Without it, the world lacks magic and wonder. Imagination doesn’t mean that it’s fake – it means that it exceeds reality. Surely that is a decent definition of God as well – the One Who Exceeds Reality.

Seeing Judaism as rooted in love is a choice. When we inherit a tradition, we make choices about which values to center and which to set aside. When I think about my grandfather, I remember someone for whom Judaism nourished his ability to care for others in a loving, heartfelt way.

Part of my struggle with pastoral care is a desire to be perfect. After some time as a pastor and some work on myself, I am learning to trust that there is always grace.