St. Paul
-
When night becomes day
Here’s a game that might make your Lent a little more interesting. It’s called “Purgatory,” named for the waiting room where, some Christians believe, your sins are purged and your soul is purified before entering heaven. The way the game’s inventor imagined it, people with contradictory views of life would be paired with each other Continue reading
-
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 -
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 -
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
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 -
The difficult grace of hating evil
Hating what is evil and holding fast to what is good (Rom. 12:9b) seems obvious and sensible advice until I try putting it into practice. Then it gets complicated; it starts causing problems not easy to solve; it unsettles the way I’ve been taught to think. Take, for example, this bit of wisdom from a Continue reading
-
When night ends and day begins
There’s a game that might make your Lent a little more interesting; it does mine. It’s called “Purgatory,” named for the waiting room where, some Christians believe, your sins are purged and your soul is purified before entering heaven. The way poet W.H. Auden invented the game, writers with contradictory views of life would be Continue reading
banquet of heaven, body of Christ, Catholic spirit, competition, divisions, Don Corleone, Emily Dickinson, gospel, heaven, heaven on earth, inner contradictions, John Wesley, kingdom of God, Lent, liveral vs. conservative, members one of another, middle ground, now or never, partisan animosity, Paul and Peter, Purgatory, reign of God, St. Paul, The Godfather, unity, unity in diversity, W.H. Auden, Walt Whitman
The Sauntering Pilgrim 