ARTICLES

02/04/2026

There is a memory somewhere in you that you did not choose to keep. You kept it anyway. Neuroscientists who study memory consolidation have long observed that the brain does not archive experience the way a filing system stores documents — chronologically, comprehensively, neutrally. It stores what matters emotionally. The hippocampus, working in close partnership with the amygdala, encodes experience based on emotional intensity and relational significance. The stronger the

Neurotheology and the Practice of Presence Whether or not you pray, your bain is doing something when you sit in silence, slow your breathing, and direct your attention toward something larger than yourself. Neuroscientists call it a shift in default mode network activity -- a measurable reorganization of how your brain allocates attention when it moves from reactive processing to something more intentional, more still. Contemplatives have called it communion for centuries. T

Grace and Caution – Matthew 18:10-14 Hook: I never had a sister and I was never given a daughter, but I have been blessed with a wonderful granddaughter. She is a bundle of energy and like her grandpa Gary she has a delightful sense of humor, but she lives in Kansas City and that is a long way from Tucson. When she was four years old, and it was time for her baby brother to be born, I went to Kansas City to babysit her while her mom was giving birth at the hospital. Normally,

My youngest daughter Bronwyn has always pushed the envelope, sticking her hairy toe across any line drawn before her. Bronwyn, or “White Breast” was a Welsh heroine in her father’s favorite book, “ How Green Was My Valley.” We never told her what her real name meant until much later. We just called her “pure heart” which matches her nature now. Her “pure heart,” however, was coupled with a predilection for stubbornness and extreme sports. Life with the Bronskie was never dul