Category Archives: Uncategorized

Remembering Martin

Posted on January 19, 2025 by chappelltemple

His family called him “M.L.” when he was growing up, his wife called him “Martin” and he called himself am “ambivert,” that is a combination between an extrovert and an introvert. But what we should actually call him was simply … Continue reading →

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The When of Christmas

Posted on December 23, 2024 by chappelltemple

It wasn’t in December On a cold and frosty morn, But probably in the springtime When that blessed child was born. Not in a barn out on a hill, But maybe in a cave, That Love descended to the earth … Continue reading →

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For All the Saints

Posted on November 1, 2024 by chappelltemple

Saint Sam and Saint Christy.  Saint Betty and Saint Lou.  Saint Ruby and Saint J.D.  You’ve probably never heard of any of them or found their faces in a stained-glass window somewhere.  But they and countless others are saints indeed.  For according to the Bible, … Continue reading →

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A Word About Chris

Posted on October 14, 2024 by chappelltemple

His name meant “Christ-bearer,” but it’s fair to say that he often failed miserably to live up to that calling.  For as is often the case for many of us, it was after his triumphant success that he began to forget the God … Continue reading →

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“Christmas Eve Gift!”

Posted on December 24, 2023 by chappelltemple

It was a tradition within my mother’s family.  For growing up with her four sisters and their widowed mom on a cotton farm in Central Texas, when it came to extras, there simply weren’t many at all.  But every December … Continue reading →

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Bethlehem is Broken

Posted on December 20, 2023 by chappelltemple

(As the Israel-Hamas war continues and the town of Bethlehem has “cancelled” Christmas celebrations this year, a poem that I wrote several years ago after visiting there and seeing the Wall of Separation between Israel and the West Bank seems … Continue reading →

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Soldiers at the Wall

Posted on October 31, 2023 by chappelltemple

His father Elyada is said to have been the first Israeli Jew to move back into the Jewish quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem following its restoration to Israel in the fabled 1967 Six Day War.  And reflecting the resilience … Continue reading →

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A Long-Ago Word from Philly

Posted on July 4, 2023 by chappelltemple

It’s been quite a week in my hometown of Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, so they call it.  Got some Greek words in the name, I guess, the kind that preachers like to use in sermons, you know.  Not sure just … Continue reading →

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Borrowing the Crown

Posted on May 4, 2023 by chappelltemple

It will be a spectacle on Saturday, to be sure.  For when Charles III–perhaps the longest man ever to wait for his real job to finally kick in–is crowned in Westminster Abbey the symbolism will more than outweigh the sentiments.  What’s more, … Continue reading →

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The God of Thunder (no, not Thor)

Posted on April 21, 2023 by chappelltemple

The fierce storms that rolled through our Houston area neighborhood last night, with more thunder and lightning than I can ever remember hearing and seeing, made me think of him.  For it was on a hot summer’s day in 1505 that … Continue reading →

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