Category: Reflections
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My Favorite New Book
When was the last time you thought about LSD? If you’re around my age, you thought about it a lot 50 years ago. LSD was an intriguing drug. Tripping out on LSD was described by many young adults, especially college students, as an incredible spiritual experience, filled with brilliant colors and electrifying images. It was…
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The Accidental Reincarnation of My Blog
It’s gone. I destroyed it by mistake. I tried to be so careful, but the technology has changed so much in ten years. According to WordPress, the format of my blog is too old fashioned to be continued. “Bouquet” – the theme I used for the design of my blog has been retired. I can…
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HYMNS FOR ALL SEASONS – It’s finished!
After almost two years of researching, organizing, writing, editing, revising, and then repeating the whole process over again, and again, finally HYMNS FOR ALL SEASONS: Talking with God Through Music has been published. What’s in it? Reflections on 110 hymns: Who wrote the hymn? When? Why? What impact has the hymn had? Any other details…
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Guest Post by Mim Jacobson
Today is June 24, 2021. It is two weeks ago today that I had the second of my two surgeries within one week. The first was Sunday, June 6, an emergency appendectomy that began with a slight fever about 3:00 a.m. I took Tylenol and set the alarm for 5:30 a.m. to make asparagus strata…
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“Now Thank We All Our God”
I’m almost done writing the first draft of my next book. My first two books in this series about the stories behind hymns were focused on hymns on a particular theme. My first book was a small book about the stories of 31 hymns that were based on the Psalms. My second book had 51…
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What I’ve been doing during the pandemic
For the past seven months I’ve had lots of quiet time at home – the perfect environment for writing. I’ve set aside this blog, mostly, to concentrate on my latest book – Talking with God through Music: Seasonal Hymns. Right now I’m on page 186 of the first draft. I think I have about 50…
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“This Little Light of Mine” and a Home Town Protest
Well, it happened again. I turned up too much information, and I need to share it somewhere. It’s too much for the book I’m writing, so I guess it needs to go into another blog post, just like the last time this happened, when I wrote about “It Came upon the Midnight Clear.” This time…
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“It Came upon the Midnight Clear”
I’m having the time of my life during this “Safer at Home” interlude in our lives. I average about eight hours a day on writing my newest book, Talking with God through Music: Seasonal Hymns. I’ve written a dozen reflections on Advent carols, and thirteen reflections on Christmas carols, with eight more to go. Then…
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Is Mim Going to Jail?
As usual, I was sitting at my computer, working on my next book. Floey walked over to me, sat down right beside me, and looked up. She waited for me to finish the sentence I was typing. “What’s up, Floey?” I asked. “I’m worried, Mom.” “Are you worried about the Corona Virus, Floey? I don’t…
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The Message of a Kaleidoscope
As soon as I got home from playing at the Presbyterian Church in Cambridge on Sunday, Mim, Floey, and I hopped into the car and drove to Chicago for a late lunch at the Buffalo Ice Cream Parlor. This was a special weekend. Forty-seven years ago I accepted a new job as an editorial researcher…