January 2012 – 300 words a day

death and life

It was a gift, actually. Death is an expiration date for brutality. Once Adam and Eve knew they could defy God, it would do no good for them to live forever in bodies. Breaking the tab on the back that said “trained service technicians only” meant the created was trying to act as the creator. […]

by Jon Swanson

the resurrection of the body

Ted was 93. People who knew him for 40 years, 60 years, 20 years, talked about him. About his compassion, his encouragement, his hospitality. His leadership, his diligence, his career. His faith. We gathered for an hour and more. There were two hundred and fifty of us. Much of my professional life was in that room, a […]

by Jon Swanson

Saturday reflection: Row E, Seat 2

January 22, Hope, Nancy and I went to hear Donald Miller for the first time. We know him well, as well as you can know someone from the books he’s written, and the posts and the tweets. But we hadn’t heard him. Nancy and I drove the two hours to Mishawaka, Indiana, picked up Hope […]

by Jon Swanson

creative.

Grab a generic black bird. Take a one-inch wide paint brush and a small bottle of white paint. Paint one white stripe across its back, about two inches from the end of the tail. Open a pint can of red paint, closer to crimson than maroon. Wrap some masking tape around the bird’s beak. Dip […]

by Jon Swanson

I believe in the forgiveness of sins.

As I sat down to write about the next part of the creed, I realized that I have talked about sin and forgiveness of sin a lot. I wrote about Jesus and a sinner, a woman from a different culture and life than Jesus. I wrote about the hard work of repenting, the process of […]