Beautiful and Terrible Things: A Christian Struggle with Suffering, Grief, and Hope is out and available from the publisher and all the usual places where you buy words on pages (and words in pixels and spoken, the Kindle and audio versions are available too!). The description from the publisher: Bible […]
“Put the apocalypse back into Advent” is a phrase that has been making the rounds of the internet for the last few years, a riff on the “kept Christ in Christmas,” no doubt. For many Christians it is a curious concept, what can the apocalypse possible have to do with […]
Frederick Buechner died this week at the age of 96. It was a long life and his legacy and impact will be longer lasting still. Many have written and, no doubt on Sunday, many will preach about this remarkable author’s impact through word on the lives of so many. The […]
This afternoon, 15 August 2022, the Frederick Buechner society posted the announcement below. This is a loss that I and thousands others will feel deeply. His writings and reflections led me to examine and express my faith more clearly than ever and I am forever thankful that I accidentally discovered […]
This is an entry in the “Acrostic Contemplations.” Zeal is an older term that largely survives in modern English only in reference to a zealot; hardly a term one would want ascribed to themselves. The related term “jealous” is equally pejorative. Yet within the Bible we find that the term “zeal” […]
This is an entry in the “Acrostic Contemplations.” YHWH – See J – Jahwe Youth is wasted on the young. That’s the saying, anyway. The assumption is that the young do not know yet how carefree and joyful that time of life is, so they cannot appreciate it fully. It seems […]
This is an entry in the “Acrostic Contemplations.” Xenophilia is the “is the love for, attraction to, or appreciation of foreign people, manners, customs, or cultures.”1 I have more than a bit of xenophilia in me; I enjoy learning other languages, traveling, and experiencing other cultures. Indeed, much of what […]
This is an entry in the “Acrostic Contemplations.” Walk in love, as Christ loved us, and gave himself an offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians chapter 5, verse 2, is a sentence often recited at the offertory. (Offertory is not, as some think, the collection of money in a worship […]
First reading and Psalm• 1 Kings 19:1-4, (5-7), 8-15a• Psalm 42 and 43 Second reading• Galatians 3:23-29 Gospel• Luke 8:26-39
This is an entry in the “Acrostic Contemplations.” See “discernment.” Vocation is, etymologically speaking, one’s calling. The term comes from the Latin vocatio, a “call” or “summons,” and has been used in Christianity for centuries to describe one discerning their call from God towards a particular way of life, in religious […]
This is an entry in the “Acrostic Contemplations.” My daughter and I were walking through the terminal to our gate and I was thinking, as I always do, that perhaps I needed a snack.1 I suddenly stopped, looked up and around and asked, “What airport are we in?” Every airport […]