love
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On standing watch in the storm
Winter’s coming. There, I’ve said it, what everyone knows and few want to acknowledge. Its prelude is October’s riot of color, followed by November’s revealing austerity exposing the contours of the earth that are hidden beneath summer’s rich foliage. Then winter. Winter comes to everyone at one time or another, not the season on the Continue reading
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On why we are here at Holy Trinity
What would you say if you were asked why you are here at Holy Trinity this morning? For the last six months, several groups of congregation leaders and members have been asking why any of us are here. We’ve been developing a Why Statement to say as realistically and clearly as possible why we are Continue reading
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The mark of the Christian
Love is more than a commandment of Jesus (see John 13:31-35). Love is an invitation and a promise. It’s the condition in which we experience the abundant life into which Jesus invites us (John 10:10). It’s the land flowing with milk and honey into which God promises to deliver us (Exod. 3:7f). It’s the house Continue reading
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Lookin’ for love
It’s a mystery to me how the thing we want most in life, the very essence of life itself – the treasure greater than all treasures, the pearl of great value (Matt. 13:44-46) – should be the most elusive. It seems at times as if our creator made us with an insatiable desire for that Continue reading
Andrew Weil, authentic relationship, Christian love, craving, desire for God, forgiveness, god-shaped hole, God-shaped vacuum, greatest commandment, growth in faith, hunger for God, Johnny Lee, love, love your neighbor, our hearts are restless, Pascal, pearl of great value, reconciliation, restlessness, spiritual growth, St. Augustine, what I want most -
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 -
The way of love
Sometimes we make love too complicated. We make too much of it, our images so high, our ideals so perfect they’re out of reach. Maybe that’s why we’re not very good at marriages, nearly half of them ending in divorce or separation. But I’m not talking about that kind of love, the Hallmark movie kind. Continue reading
Annie Sullivan, authentic relationships, be ardent in spirit, do not lag in zeal, Dr. Frank Mayfield, Helen Keller, ideal love, let love be genuine, love, marriage, Mayfield Clinic, Mother Teresa, mutual affection, Stefon Diggs, Stephen Mitchell, Tewksbury Institute, the way of love, to love as children, weddings
The Sauntering Pilgrim 