Photo credits: first and second pictures Here beginneth a LONG quotation from John 11. Bear with me! 17 Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. 20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was … Continue reading »
So often I operate out of fear. In fact, I have a really good repertoire of fears, as you would expect from someone who has majored in this for far too long. I can experience any of them to order, sometimes even all of them at the same time. Fear of the future. Fear of … Continue reading »
We must recognize that Jesus himself walked for years with a small band of followers, and they still looked like the B-team when he left this earth. Halter and Smay in And: The Gathered and Scattered Church. What freedom in one short sentence!
I really have enjoyed reading Herrick and Mann’s Jesus Wept. It is another of those books which seems to have leapfrogged the others in the reading pile. That’s perhaps because of its thoughtfulness – well, that and the fact that it is easier to read than the academic books! Here is another excerpt: The role of … Continue reading »
If you ask yourself, “Why am I walking around this planet? Why do I exist?” Paul says, “You must answer: For the sake of Christ.” If the angels were to ask, they must point to the Nazarene carpenter and make the same answer, “We exist for the sake of Christ.” If the whole cosmos were … Continue reading »
Here’s another little excerpt from Shaping the Journey of Emerging Adults by Dunn and Sundene: Acting with the mind, heart and will of Christ in the small nooks and crannies of our days will be in tension with the path of least resistance our flesh wants to take. Hmm, yes!
Today’s post is not the one I thought I was going to write. That one has been postponed! This one is a reaction to something I heard today. Please read it as such: it is not moderated with the usual calm or relative detachment of most of my posts. I may say things without much … Continue reading »
A friend who is in youth ministry is leading a session soon with her young people on the topic of wisdom and she asked some of her friends to write a letter to their teenage selves, sharing some of the wisdom they now wish they had known then. My effort appears below, although I suspect … Continue reading »
I’ve done quite a lot of reading and writing this week. Some of you are already thinking that this is hardly worthy of comment given my usual reading rate! But, what with that and not expecting to have time to blog tomorrow now that I can finally spend some time with Peter (who made it … Continue reading »
Entering the presence of another human being is like entering a cathedral. The appropriate response is awe. With our eyes open to the wonder of another person, suddenly we are in the presence of something greater than ourselves. Even though we too are human, somehow the other is greater than we are, because the other … Continue reading »
