Mental Musings

Watch this message on Facebook Live Advent is a season of anticipation. Traditionally the 4 Sundays prior to Christmas and Christmas Eve, it represents a time of waiting for the coming Messiah as we anticipate the return of Jesus. Each Sunday we will light a new candle to represent an important part of the Christmas story. Today the candle is the HOPE candle. I think it is perhaps the best candle to explain why this time of waiting, this time of anticipation, was seen, and continues to be seen, as a season of hope. Just last week our neighbors lost their 17-year-old foster son to a senseless act of violence. Terry Bosley was shot in the face while walking only a block from his house. This event, like the many that have come before it, turned our community upside down. Shock, anger, fear, uncertainty, and sadness were shared among friends, family, and neighbors as the news spread. What was different about this shooting? Was it just the breaking point for a community that ...

We used to live in a suburban community where we would often go for long walks at night. We didn’t even need a flashlight after we memorized the two places in our neighborhood where the sidewalk suddenly dipped or rose at an odd angle. We rarely heard any sounds other than a few dogs barking or the occasional car passing. We could enjoy the breeze blowing through the trees and the scent of freshly mown lawns. It was the 2015 version of the idyllic Norman Rockwell setting. That was only 3 years ago. Since then we moved to the Eastport Community in the City of Annapolis, Maryland. It is nestled within a peninsula that is about 1 mile long and 5 blocks wide. Eastport is a very eclectic urban community. It is more expensive to live in Eastport than in 97% of the neighborhoods in Maryland, yet we also have some of the poorest individuals living in the 2 largest public housing facilities out of the 8 properties owned and managed by the Housing Authority for the City of Annapolis. ...