living the questions
-
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 -
The tipping point
Advent is an awkward, unsettled, ambiguous season. Retail Christmas decorations pop up as early as midsummer, and Christmas music starts filling the airwaves in November. The Hallmark Channel runs Christmas movies year-round. In churches, the urge to decorate for Christmas and sing Christmas music starts as soon as Advent begins. And in our homes, some Continue reading
Advent, Aldersgate experience, already and not yet, baptism, Damascus Road, enlightenment, Holy Spirit, John Wesley, Letters to a Young Poet, little Lent, living the questions, Magnum Mysterium, Messiah, Rex Tremendum, Rilke, spiritual baptism, spiritual growth, St. Paul, waiting for messiah, Wittgenstein -
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 -
Remembering Thomas
Doubt is not the enemy of faith, and it’s not the opposite of faith; doubt can be the dark, rich ground where true faith is born. The story of Thomas and the other disciples on those first two Sundays after the resurrection is more than a story about a group of disciples huddled in fear Continue reading
