-
First things first
James liked cheese. He more than liked it; he loved it. When he was a young boy, he wanted to be the wealthiest and most famous maker and seller of cheese in the world, so he started a small business with a little wagon and a pony named Paddy. After making his cheese, he would… Continue reading
-
The bottom line
After I had delivered a particularly open-ended sermon, someone approached me and asked, with a look of friendly but serious frustration, “So what’s the bottom line?” Apparently she had been expecting an insight that would help her understand something about life, a teaching that would answer her questions, or an application that would inform her… Continue reading
application, changing world, Christian love, commission from God, community, community of faith, creativity and faith, differences in faith, engaging with Christ, heaven, imagination and faith, insight, laboratory of life, living the questions, love one another, Philippians, proclaiming Christ, questions, Rainer Maria Rilke, relationship with Christ, Saint Paul, salvation, teaching, the purpose of life, unfolding creation, urgent questions, vessel of God, work out your own salvation -
The wisdom of the wood sorrel
When the teacher makes the same point again and again, you can be sure it will be on the test. In the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matt. 20:1-16), Jesus said, “the last will be first, and the first will be last” (v. 16). At the end of the previous chapter he said,… Continue reading
-
Lookin’ for love
It’s a mystery to me how the thing we want most in life, the very essence of life itself – the treasure greater than all treasures, the pearl of great value (Matt. 13:44-46) – should be the most elusive. It seems at times as if our creator made us with an insatiable desire for that… Continue reading
Andrew Weil, authentic relationship, Christian love, craving, desire for God, forgiveness, god-shaped hole, God-shaped vacuum, greatest commandment, growth in faith, hunger for God, Johnny Lee, love, love your neighbor, our hearts are restless, Pascal, pearl of great value, reconciliation, restlessness, spiritual growth, St. Augustine, what I want most -
The set of our sails
The young rich guy driving his new Ferrari Spider through Vermont pulled up at a traffic light, and an old Vermonter – dressed in Bean boots, corduroys, a threadbare flannel shirt, and big red suspenders – pulled up beside him on a Moped and started admiring his car. He allowed that the car must be… Continue reading
a new thing, change, cooperate with change, degree of change, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, embrace change creatively, first things first, future, grace of God, how to live with change, living with change, new identity, new life, old Vermonter, pace of change, price of change, resisting change, St. Peter, Stephen Covey, the main thing, the set of the sails, the set of the soul, winds of change -
God beyond our sanctuary
When despair for the world grows in meand I wake in the night at the least soundin fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,I go and lie down where the wood drakerests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.I come into the peace of wild thingswho do… Continue reading
-
Are you hungry?
Earlier this year, many of you shared with me your greatest hope. One of you said it was to give the best of yourself to those in need. For another, it was that your daughters “live a happy life by following their hearts.” Someone’s hope was “release from injustices and abuse,” and for another it… Continue reading
abundant life, banquet of heaven, calling the disciples, Christian minority, community, feeding the multitude, garden of Eden, good news, hope, Joseph Campbell, miracles of Jesus, New Jerusalem, Nicodemus, rapture of being alive, spiritual hunger, the gospel, The Great Dechurching, wedding at Cana, wedding feast -
Feasting on heaven’s banquet
One of my favorite pieces of advice is from the fourth-century Hindu philosopher, playwright, and poet Kalidasa. “Look to this day,” he wrote, “for it is Life – the very Life of Life. In its brief course lie all the verities and realities of your existence: the bliss of growth, the glory of action, the… Continue reading
Alistair Begg, faith, fake it till you make it, good news, gospel, harmony, heaven, Hebrews, Jesus, Kalidasa, keep the faith, kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven, look to this day, love of God, O for a faith that will not shrink, relationship with God, salvation, St. Paul, The Second Coming, William Bathurst, William Butler Yeats
The Sauntering Pilgrim 