On remembering not the reminder but what is to be remembered…

[Gen 9:8-17] You promised not to wipe out ALL flesh ever again, O God. You hung up your bow, your capacity to just start over in an instant. Now and then, you remind yourself of this promise with an all-inclusive arc of color in the sky. You hope this reminds us, too. But we are … Continue reading On remembering not the reminder but what is to be remembered…

Eulogy for a Syrophoenician Woman

[Given at First Reformed Church, Spring Lake, MI, January 12, 2018] Good morning. My name is Holly Teitsma. I am here with and representing my step-son Austin Teitsma, grandson to Dena, and my husband, Jack Teitsma, Dena’s son. Dena, therefore, was my mother-in-law. She was my first and only mother-in-law, even though I was not … Continue reading Eulogy for a Syrophoenician Woman

When in Need of Wisdom

In the movie Six Degrees of Separation, Stockard Channing’s character, Louise “Ouisa” Kittredge, the sophisticated spouse to Flan, a wealthy international art dealer played by Donald Sutherland, blithely narrates for him as he rotates a two-sided Kandinsky on a vertical axis: “Chaos…Control. Chaos…Control…” Around and around he shows the double canvas, one side painted wildly … Continue reading When in Need of Wisdom