This is for the Church. I do not, as a rule, object to anyone of any persuasion reading my humble prose. So, Taoists, those who follow the Jain Dharma, modern-day Druids, and everyone in between should feel free to read the following. They are welcome. But, my targeted audience today is the Christian Church, by which I mean those who adhere to the tenets of the traditional Christian creeds such as the Nicene and the Apostles. In short, it’s the brothers and sisters I’m speaki

“You’ll feel different when you start using your Hebrew name,” Bayla said. We sat on the carpet as her children played, leaning against a sagging couch shoved against a bare wall. A corner shelf displayed wedding portraits of the oldest of her nine children. As couples arrived for Shabbat lunch, warm air floated in from the screen door that kept opening and closing, fluttering the tight curls at the back of my neck. The rest of my hair was tucked into a hat as a mark of marit

The homeless man stood on the corner just up from the Santa Monica Pier by the triple water fountain that rested atop a column decorated with sea blue tile. He smiled, showing a set of mostly white teeth. He only wore tattered shorts, and the bottoms of his feet were filthy and revealed uncared for sores. His hair was unkempt and had formed dreadlocks that fell below his ears. He had a small paper cup in his right hand, filled it from one of the fountains, and then tossed th