with authority
There are the kind of authorities that tell you that you have to obey. They demand that you listen. They grab your shoulders. They point to their diplomas. They point to their badge. They seem Pharisaical. They demand technical obedience to technicalities. You don’t want to listen, but you have little choice. Their voice is so [...]
Lyla goes to the monastery.
Every week or so, Lyla goes to the monastery. She’s making headroom. She writes about her trip each week. More accurately, she writes from her trip. She’s not providing steps on a journey somewhere. She’s providing rest areas. I read her words. I stop. There is such immense quiet, paintings of silence between her words. [...]
7×7: listening to God for Lent
My friend Matt had an idea. “What if we started talking about 7 x 7 (seven times seven)?” He wasn’t talking about forgiveness, which would actually be 70 x 7. He wanted to talk about the idea of spending 7 minutes every day listening to God. Take about five minutes to read the Bible. Take [...]
Primetime
CELEBRITY DISCIPLE (Sunday, 8:00 pm) In this week’s episode, a wealthy young executive comes to Jesus looking to inherit eternal life. After a brief interview about his character (perfect), Jesus challenges him to let go of all his wealth. The executive walks away sadly. Then the rest of the disciples meet in the boardroom to [...]
Saturday reflection: online. character.
This weekend in Michigan, a bunch of high school students who are leaders at their churches are spending time talking about faith and culture and leadership. The conference is called Converge2101. I was asked to create a video about online character. We decided to share it with you, too.
again and again
You know people who tell the same stories over and over? The people who come to family reunions and tell the old stories about how Uncle Ed could always get lost walking home, because he was reading while he walked. The people who stand come to the church potlucks and remind you that Sister Hazel’s [...]
Peace for Thursday.
On Thursdays we don’t need big challenging thoughts. We need quiet reminders. We need to remember what we believed on Sunday, what we promised on Monday, what we lost track of on Tuesday. We need to sit for a moment, just a moment, and shake off the chaos that was Wednesday and rest. We can’t [...]
That reminds me. Of a story.
(This was first posted May 22, 2009) Stories take words and breaths and turn them into walls our egos crash into, and overstuffed chairs our souls rest in, and kitchen chairs where our hearts linger over coffee and donuts. Stories teach best when they take the familiar to illustrate the unfamiliar. If your grandfather sat [...]
A love letter.
Paul was in jail. It didn’t bother him much. It was part of the job. When you teach things that challenge the religious and political structures, you can expect to be in jail. What bothered him more was that a group of good friends, supportive friends, knew that he was in jail. They wondered about [...]
the power of words
“Have you lost a few?” That’s how Scott greeted me. “Yes, a few,” I said as my eyes started to mist. I know that’s a pretty strong emotional response to someone wondering whether you’ve lost weight. For years my response to that question has been to laugh. Almost derisively. For years it’s been the sweater, [...]
