300 words a day

Jesus literally walked on dirt.

The other day I was sitting in church. That’s its own story, of course. After leading the Sunday service at the hospital for more than nine years, after being on church staff for most of fifteen years before that, I’m in a season of sitting with Nancy in church on Sunday mornings. Not in charge […]

by Jon Swanson

Maybe the trouble isn’t as spiritual as we think.

Years ago, I started having trouble reading the Bible. I looked at the text and couldn’t concentrate. I started to wonder what was wrong, whether there was some spiritual thing going on. And then one day at work as a pastor, I picked up a Bible. It had larger print. And I suddenly had no […]

by Jon Swanson

A prayer for the fourteenth Sunday in ordinary time

God. At this moment, people we love are looking for jobs. At this moment, people who love you are in fear of losing homes and countries and lives. At this moment, people you love are not convinced you do. So it’s a little hard when we read that, “The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and […]

by Jon Swanson

Let’s look outside – again

This post first appeared on March 6, 2009. It was the first post that Paul Merrill wrote on 300 Words a Day. He has enjoyed writing with Jon over the years! +++ We all have a tendency to focus on our own problems. After all, they are what scream the loudest. The kids let us […]

by Jon Swanson

Sometimes, we forget that we actually did remember.

Years ago, I watched a short video about a pastor learning to move at Godspeed. He was in a small community in Scotland, and the church had no office, by design. His work happened on foot, as he moved from house to house, from conversation to conversation. If I remember correctly, the title is a […]