choices
-
Hard choices
We live on the horns of a dilemma. On one hand is the opportunity and responsibility to cultivate the best of the past and continue to harvest its rich blessings. On the other hand is the opportunity and responsibility of God’s invitation through the prophet Isaiah, “Do not remember the former things, or consider the Continue reading
-
On choosing to live insightfully
“So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:17). When Alice came to a fork in her road, she asked the Cheshire Cat, “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” The Cat replied, “That depends a good deal on where you want Continue reading
abundant life, Alice in Wonderland, astrophysics, Cheshire Cat, choices, choosing, definition of science, Democratic National Convention, Feryal Ozel, fork in the road, formulating the question, God’s law written on the heart, God’s will, immaturity, insight, insightful, Know the Lord, Lao-tzu, Lewis Carroll, living the questions, maturity, presidential election, Rainer Maria Rilke, Republican National Convention, school for the Lord’s service, St. Benedict, St. Paul, traces of God, understanding what God wants, walk by faith -
Raising Ebenezers
The question Nicodemus asked was only slightly different from the one you and I might have asked. “How can anyone be born after having grown old?” (John 3:4). Another version might be, “Once I’m settled in the familiar ways of the world, how can I give everything up and begin a whole new life?” Or Continue reading
a new life, abundant life, blessing of small things, blessings of the ordinary, born again, born from above, choice, choices, Duke Elllington, Ebenezer, experiences of grace, flow of life, goodness and mercy, great visions, Holy Spirit, Isaiah’s call, life as a river, life-changing experience, life-changing experiences, marker stones, Mary Oliver, meandering in life, Nicodemus, obstacles in life, Pentecost, starting over, The River, Thoreau -
On a confirmation Sunday
“More than at any other time in history,” Woody Allen said in a commencement address years ago, from a viewpoint that was typically his own, “mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.” Sometimes a choice Continue reading
-
Go the distance
“By your endurance you will gain your souls” (Luke 21:19). The end of Lent is not Easter; it’s this Holy Week, and it begins with Palm Sunday. Easter is in God’s hands; Palm Sunday is in ours. On Easter Day, we celebrate what God has done; on Palm Sunday we have to choose what we Continue reading
-
Another cup of coffee
“For what it’s worth,” F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, “it’s never too late . . . to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I Continue reading
authentic self, choices, growing up, inexperienced pastors, Jesus in the wilderness, Lent, maturing in faith, never too late, old sermons, original self, outgrowing the old self, reorienting ourselves to God, repentance, starting over, temptation of Jesus, The Peterkin Papers, Willem Lange, William Faulkner -
Three Rs for today
Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart. (Joel 2:12a) Seldom has a question caught my attention as suddenly and completely as the one I overheard on a busy street in Manhattan forty years ago. I had spent the day in Midtown and was headed to catch a bus for Continue reading
a better life, Ash Wednesday, choices, choosing, course corrections, destination, journey, Lent, life's journey, orientation to life, renewal, renewing, reorientation, repent, returning, returning home, sin, spiritual growth, spiritual hunger, Wendell Berry, Where am I going, wilderness experience, will of God -
A test of faith
Some people think God never leads anyone into temptation; it’s the devil who does that. If you’re one of those people, think again. God not only leads us into temptation, God led even Jesus into temptation (Luke 4:1). Mark’s gospel tells us God drove him to it (Mark 1:12). When we pray in the Lord’s Continue reading
-
The wideness of mercy
The season after Epiphany has been described as the season when “we reflect on the nature of the Messiah who has come, and we face the risky problem of how we are to act on the basis of our reflection” (Robert McAfee Brown in Social Themes of the Christian Year: A Commentary on the Lectionary, Continue reading
The Sauntering Pilgrim 