Category Ruminations
The word in your heart
“The word is near you,” Paul writes, “on your lips and in your heart” (Rom. 10:8). It’s a stunning, breath-taking idea – the word is in your heart – and the more I sit with it, the more powerful it becomes for me. Paul is writing about the word of faith he proclaims, and he’s […]
Satisfying hungry hearts
We’re hungry. I am, and I think you are, too. It’s not a hunger that can be satisfied by a piece of the strawberry-rhubarb pie Sheryl made last week. We’re hungry because we’re dissatisfied with life and want something more. Polling by the Gallup organization consistently shows that in the United States we’re less satisfied […]
The nose on your face
“It’s as plain as the nose on your face,” my grandmother would say when she was trying to get me to see something she could see plainly but I seemed to miss entirely. She was usually trying to help me see not an object but a meaning, an implication, what was (to her) the obvious […]
Weeds and wheat together
If you want to see a living parable of the kingdom of God, you need only visit the lawn around my house. It’s a lawn our neighbors probably consider embarrassing. Unlike lawns treated liberally with chemicals, the kind of lawns pictured in Home & Garden, the kind advertisers have taught us to think of as […]
Love’s yoke
It may be time to reread your Christian discipleship agreement. When you do, pay attention to the fine print. The invitation says something about an easy yoke and a light burden (Matt. 11:25-30), and if you’re feeling weary and heavy laden you might stop there. Keep reading, and you’ll find a model for effective prayer […]
On becoming who you are
In early summer, I look for good commencement speeches. I look for speeches that offer sound advice for living, insights that help me wear my life better, timeless truth dressed in fresh language. Most of what I find offer little more than ordinary boilerplate, quickly and easily forgotten. A few rise above the ordinary and […]
And this is such a time
When will we see the harassed and helpless crowds (Matt. 9:35-38), really see them? When will the concerns of those who’ve been beaten down in life become our concerns, enough to liberate our compassion, enough to break our hearts, enough for their suffering to become our suffering? When will we see the harassed and helpless, […]
Once in a while
Today is Trinity Sunday, a day given to the attempt to explain the unexplainable. Long ago, tradition created a package for God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – and preachers and theologians have been trying to explain it ever since. When I was a newly minted pastor, Trinity Sunday was my opportunity to explain […]
