integrity
-
Choose this day
Near the end of the book of Joshua (Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18) is a passage about choices that seems particularly relevant today. It describes a transition time when, after a generation of wandering in the wilderness following their exodus from Egypt, the people of Israel began settling in Canaan, their promised land. And there Joshua challenged Continue reading
abundant life, authenticity, building a new life, Canaan, center of values, choice, choose this day, crossroads, Egypt, Exodus, fork in the road, foundation, gospel, integrity, Joshua, life questions, Man’s Search for Meaning, new day, originality, pause, reconciliation, reconciling love, span of life, St. Paul, stimulus and response, tansition, the ear of your heart, the good news, Viktor Frankl, vocation, what is my nature, who am I?, why am I here -
Have you eaten from the tree?
Picture the parent, arms akimbo, confronting the young child. “Have you been eating chocolate?” The child, face covered with chocolate and a “Who, me?” expression, answers, “No, not me!” Now intensify that scene several hundred times, and imagine God calling to Adam in the garden, “Where are you?” and Adam, knowing he’d been caught, trying Continue reading
-
With the eye of the heart
After reading today’s gospel (Luke 12:49-56), I have a bone to pick with Jesus. I understand he might have felt frustrated with those who didn’t see what he saw, who didn’t understand what he understood. I imagine he might have wondered if he’d ever get through to the knuckleheads who wanted to be his disciples Continue reading
-
The way to life
We don’t observe the season of Lent to seek redemption from our broken nature; that’s already been accomplished. And we don’t observe Lent to practice some stricter rules for Christian life; authentic Christianity is not about following any rules. We observe Lent because we want the experience of being fully alive and fully human.1 We Continue reading
a life of meaning, abundant life, call to discipleship, cost of discipleship, David Brooks, decision, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, discipleship, distresses of choice, eternal life, Follow me, good and evil, humility, integrity, Jerusalem as symbol, Jesus in the wilderness, Lent, love, Mount of Transfiguration, Palm Sunday, peace of Christ, polarities, polarities of God, priorities, take up your cross daily, testing in the wilderness, the peaceable kingdom, to everything a season, values, W.H. Auden, weeds and wheat, wholeness, wilderness of choices -
This call is for you
When our celebration of Christmas ends, the work of Christmas begins. According to theologian and poet Howard Thurman, that work is: “To find the lost, To heal the broken, To feed the hungry, To release the prisoner, To rebuild the nations, To bring peace among brothers [and sisters], To make music in the heart.” The Continue reading
