Home By Another Way
I'm inviting, I hope, a reframing that names the truth that God’s got us. That perhaps in ways we can’t see, the year that has been will be a gift from God to our future selves. That the flames of the dumpster fire might be purifying and refining.
The Weary World Rejoices
When God enters into the story of Mary and Joseph and the shepherds and the whole world, I can’t help but think of the words of John Sullivan Dwight in 1855 who wrote the English version of O Holy Night. When God enters in, when love comes local and Christ is born… “the weary world rejoices.”
Seeking Sanctuary
What would this world look like were we to make of ourselves and our communities a home where strivings cease, where posturing is paused — and instead there is space for stillness and rest, space to simply be — to find rest in the God whose door is always open?
Laying the Foundation
In a world in which there are so many competing voices telling us who and whose we are... the words of blessing and encouragement and love and promise that we offer now over those we love — those who, like us, are just trying to make it in this weary world, lay a foundation for God to build on.
Two Different Conversations
When Jesus talks about a kingdom, he’s talking about a way of living. He’s talking about a way of seeing the world and being in it. He’s talking about a new reality, a certain realm of existence, a new creation bursting forth — if only we’d have eyes to see it.
A Splash of Cold Water
Because in a world driven by scarcity and market forces, by competition and consumption, a blessing is completely disruptive. It turns the world right-side up. Because it can’t be earned or taken. It can only be received.
Where are you, God?
In many ways, the earth has become a tomb of its own, and the stench of death is strong. And it’s highly likely that more than one person — a widow, a grieving parent, a friend left behind, a child without a mother — has asked, “Where were you, God? Where are you?”
“Knowledge is Power” is a lie.
“Knowledge is power,” he said, before waiting a beat and continuing. “…is a lie.” “It’s false. And anyone who tells you that knowledge is power doesn’t know what they’re talking about.” Whatever I was expecting on the first day of driver’s ed was not this.
A Letter To Students
So I started to wonder — what sort of pastoral letter of encouragement and hope might I write, like Paul, to these students who are also entering a world in which their voice, wisdom, and heart are so desperately needed?
