kingdom of heaven

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
March 31, 2024

Easter Day: Hidden in Plain Sight

The story is told among preachers, about one pastor and his daughter who were on their way to an Easter service when the young girl asked, “Dad, are you going to try to explain Easter again this year, or will you just let people enjoy it?” St. Paul tried to explain it (cf. 1 Cor. Continue reading

Ruminations

Christ is risen, earthly body, Easter eggs, empty tomb, God's new thing, kingdom of heaven, new life, new world, resurrection appearances, spiritual body, The Resurrection
September 18, 2023

Love in difficult conversations

To love someone, to be in authentic relationship with someone, is to value that person. It is to recognize that person as having an essential, indispensable role to play in God’s ongoing creation, even if I don’t have a clue what that role might be. It’s to recognize that without that person, I can never Continue reading

Ruminations

agreement, Christian love, community, differences, difficult conversations, disagreement, divisions, factions, gospel, inquiry, inquisition, Irshad Manji, Jeremiah, justice, kingdom of heaven, law of God, law of life, Listening, namaste, new covenant, opinions, peace, reconciliation, reign of God, table of grace
July 30, 2023

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

Ruminations

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
June 25, 2023

This one short life

When writer Annie Dillard was a young child, she would hide a precious penny of her own for someone else to find. She’d cradle it in the roots of a tree or a crack in the sidewalk, then with a piece of chalk she’d draw huge arrows leading up to the penny from both directions Continue reading

Ruminations

Abraham Joshua Heschel, Annie Dillard, doors of perception, gaining life, Gospel of Thomas, hidden in plain sight, in a mirror dimly, Joseph Campbell, kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven, life, losing life, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, reign of God, Richard Rohr, search for truth, shortness of life, through a glass darkly, two halves of life, William Blake, wisdom of heart

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.

kingdom of heaven

If you will

Easter Day: Hidden in Plain Sight

Love in difficult conversations

Feasting on heaven’s banquet

This one short life