Mostly Cloudy ~ 62°F   River stage: 33.19 Rising Friday, November 20, 2009

Religion Cape again to host convention for Missouri's Episcopal diocese (11/19/09) The 170th convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri will meet once again in Cape Girardeau. The main topic of the convention Friday and Saturday is "Mission, mission, mission. Building a bridge to bring ministry to a broken world," said the Rev. Robert Towner of Christ Episcopal Church in Cape Girardeau. Other topics include the focus for the Missouri mission, congregational outreach and its mission to the Sudan in Africa... Seeking to understand the unimaginable (11/15/09) An Army psychiatrist, trained to treat men and women dealing with combat stress, allegedly shoots and kills a dozen people and wounds 30 others. Because of the deadline set for me by the Missourian, this column was written five days ago. Which is to say, by the time you read this, we may well know something about the motivation behind Dr. Nidal Malik Hasan's actions -- information not available when I hit "send" on my computer... A broader definition of sainthood (11/01/09) "Keep a good grip on it." That's one of my favorite lines from the 1966 film "A Man for All Seasons." Here's the prelude to that climactic phrase:Sir Thomas More: Why have I been summoned to this court? Lord High Judge: To answer to a charge of high treason... From one lower light to another: keep shining (10/18/09) Leaving Dexter, Mo., on Highway 25 the other day, our church's youth director, Dave Wiant, spotted a lighthouse. Given that there is no significant natural body of water in that Stoddard County city, the lighthouse's placement seemed odd. Further inspection revealed that the impressive tower is on the property of a church that uses "lighthouse" in its name: Lighthouse Christian Center... Living the simple life (10/04/09) A friend and parishioner of mine, Dr. Ada "Dottie" Cruce, once told me about a trip she made in 1984 to the USSR. She had gone there with a group of psychologists. She recalls going to the huge Soviet department store known as GUM. We Americans are familiar with so-called "big box" stores, but according to all accounts, we have nothing like the old GUM stores. ...

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