healing

May 25, 2025

If you will

Sometimes the most effective healing Jesus offered was no healing at all. Take the story of the man at the pool of Beth-zatha, for example (John 5:2-9). For thirty-eight years he had been there, most of his life, waiting to be healed of whatever ailed him. And for thirty-eight years he had seen others healed Continue reading

Ruminations

Abba Joseph, Abba Lot, authority, be made well, become all fire, bible, change, dependency, desert fathers, discovery, faith, God, healing, health and wholeness, Jesus, kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven, letting go, new life, paralytic, risking change, risking growth, the pool of Beth-zatha, the unknown, unanswered prayer, unknown world
October 29, 2023

On claiming an inner authority

Our healing, perfect integrity in our relationship with God, the realization of life in perfect harmony with the whole of creation, is not something we can attain by anything we do. It’s not a goal to be achieved, nor is it a future reward for right behavior today. It is a pure, unconditional, contemporary gift Continue reading

Ruminations

authentic living, authenticity, gospel, grace, harmony, healing, inner authority, integrity, living authentically, Martin Luther, nature, Protestant Reformation, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Reformation Day, relationship with God
October 9, 2022

The key to abundant life

“Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice” (Luke 17:15). If you’re confused by the gospel of Jesus, you might have good reason to be. Jesus said he came that we might have more and better life than we ever dreamed of having (John Continue reading

Ruminations

abundant life, awake, breaking rules, come alive, dreams fulfilled, grateful living, healing, kingdom of God, making a difference, Meister Eckhart, prayer, reconciliation, seeing, surprise, thank you, the narrow gate
August 21, 2022

The call to stand tall

Today’s gospel (Luke 13:10-17) begins as a story about the healing of “a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years” (v. 11). It’s also a story about the need to look clearly at what’s happening in our lives, and about raising our vision so we might see something greater and live Continue reading

Ruminations

abundant life, authentic self, church attendance decline, church is dying, church membership decline, civic engagement, dancing with God, dancing with the Spirit, dependence, disrupting normal, dreams, falling short, full potential, healing, hope, making all things new, possibility, prevenient grace, priorities, seeing clearly, self-awareness, social action, spirituality, woman in the synagogue
July 24, 2022

Teach us to pray

One of Jesus’ disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). If there’s ever a time when we need to learn how to pray, this is it. Following every mass shooting, as predictable as sunrise, the comments come, mostly from politicians and public officials, about communities being in their “thoughts and prayers.” Continue reading

Ruminations

a precarious life, Anne Lamott, community, effective prayer, God at the ceneter, healing, Help, ineffective prayer, Jabez, justice, living in community, Make America Great Again, make the nation great again, Our Father in heaven, peace, prayer, prayer for shooting victims, prayer of Jabez, prayer of Jesus, precarious, principles of prayer, relationship with God, Thanks, the Lord's prayer, thoughts and prayers, to pray, transformation, transforming prayer, what is prayer?, Wow
June 21, 2022

In praise of a small life

Our unhappiness arises from one thing alone, according to seventeenth-century philosopher and theologian Blaise Pascal. We’re unhappy, he believed, because we’re unable to stay quietly in one room. We can’t remain present and content where we are. We crave different things or more of the same things, and we strive after them. And in our Continue reading

Ruminations

a quiet life, abnormal life, calling, climbing the ladder, conformity, following Jesus, happiness, healing, kingdom of God, ladder of success, man who had demons, ministry, normal life, not following Jesus, Pascal, presence, simple life, small life, telling your story, Tolstoy, unhappiness
May 29, 2022

Interrupted by grace

If you want to make the most of your life and fulfill your life’s highest purpose, and if you want the greatest success in your job or career path, you need to stay focused on your dream or goal and resist distractions and interruptions as much as possible. By setting aside distractions and defending against Continue reading

Ruminations

conversion, distractions, disturbing our city, God’s will, gun violence, handling interruptions, healing, interruptions, Jefferson Avenue, repentance, Robb Elementary School, school shootings, spiritual intervention, systemic healing, the baffled mind, the impeded stream, Tops Market killings, Uvalde, Wendell Berry
February 18, 2022

A gospel of cooked turnip greens

Among all the favorite foods my mother served up when I was a child, there were some that made me gag: liver and onions, for example, or cooked turnip greens. When Mother served something I thought for sure was going to poison me, there was one simple and firm rule. I didn’t have to eat Continue reading

Ruminations

Assyrian Empire, bullies, David and Goliath, Elijah, forgiveness, healing, Jezebel, Joseph and his brothers, love your enemy, loving enemies, Naaman, praying for my enemy, reconciliation, Sermon on the Mount, Sermon on the Plain, St. Paul, Syria
February 12, 2022

The gospel on a level place

A long time ago I learned you don’t mess around with someone’s favorite passages of scripture. The connection people feel with their favorite passages is deep, even holy. There’s a reason, sometimes many reasons, why those passages are dearly held. Upsetting those connections can be more than disturbing: it can be deeply harmful, so proceed Continue reading

Ruminations

AIDS, Beatitudes, Christ at Heart's Door, gospel, healing, Jesus on a level place, Jesus on a mountain, meeting people where they are, Quality of Life Retreat, rebuilding the church, reconciliation, Warner Sallman

About Me

Rich Neal is, in no particular order, a wordsmith and graphic designer; lover of typography, books, and publishing; photographer; contemplative; saunterer; and a retired and still-active pastor. He claims neither special wisdom nor particularly deep insight into life, only occasional glimpses of what lies behind the veil along the way. He shares them here in the hope of connecting the pieces of life’s puzzle that come to him in the journey and would consider it a gift if sharing them also connected him with others who travel an unmarked path toward the same unknown end.