There is no shortage of charity, grace or abundance in the economy of the Divine. In the human economy, we have shortages of all three. That means we must strive harder for fair balance.

Just as Paul asked the Corinthians, we can certainly ask ourselves, who needs a blessing? Who needs a gift that I can give today?

Lazlo was afraid of the dark.

So begins an inspired and suspenseful children’s book in which a young boy, utterly alone in a cavernous house, will be forced to confront a common childhood fear.

We were created to live with God, to belong to God, in wholeness and fullness – without shame. This is who we were made to be: God’s very own.

That’s the thing to remember isn’t it. That’s worth a bit of a pause. That’s where, as Christians, our own commencement must always begin and end and begin again.

Ralph Wood, professor of theology and literature at Baylor, tells a story about being issued an invitation by a Baptist pastor-friend: Would Ralph accompany him to the local minimum-security prison for a baptism?