A Prayer for Wednesday: O Lord, our heavenly Father, almighty and everlasting God, you have brought us safely to the beginning of this day: Defend us by your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin nor run into any danger; and that, guided by your Spirit, we may do what is righteous in…
Tradition has it that, in the beginning, humanity came from the ground. The play on words in the Hebrew Bible is poetic: Out of the adamah came the adam (Gen 2:7). In modern parlance, one might say the earthling came from the earth. Either way, the point is the same. Humanity is a humble derivative…
The Advent season is about preparing our hearts for Christmas by reflecting on Jesus’ coming to the earth 2,000 years ago. (And it also involves anticipating what is to come in the future — awaiting the day when he returns again.) And as we reflect upon the coming of Jesus, we have to ask ourselves,…
I went for a walk the other day and came across a cross. One might chalk it up as happenstance. Perhaps the wind blew these two sticks until they eventually married one another on this random path at just the right time before I chanced upon them. Or maybe it was by design. Perhaps some…
When it comes to church, one thing I’ve learned is that “community” is important. In fact, the communal life is necessary. And by “community,” I mean more than a place for shop talk (as important as that is). I mean something along the lines of habitual participation, constant give-and-take, and sacramental union. I mean koinōnia. …
I spent time nearly every day last week walking the shoreline. There’s something mesmerizing about it all. The vastness summons you to attention. The waves are fierce and rhythmic, drawing you away from distraction and into wonder and contemplation. What’s beyond our own horizon? What lies behind the veil of our finitude? Without knowing it,…
We often get frustrated with the speed at which God works in our lives (slow and steady). I suspect that, in part, it’s because we tend to interpret God’s ways in light of the speed at which we insist on living our lives (fast and hurried). The modern world is a very difficult place for…
I recently started reading Dale Allison’s Encountering Mystery, a book packed with discussions about various religious experiences people sometimes report. It’s been a fun read so far. Toward the end of his chapter on prayer, he cites a study that caught my eye. He writes, “A few years ago, psychologists at Harvard and the University…
In this article, Bono recounts a conversation he once had with Franklin Graham. It’s kind of funny and reminds me of a couple things: (1) some sectors of evangelicalism don’t quite understand the evangel (the gospel) or how to share it; (2) thank God for the renegade poets who do. Graham: “You … you really…
You’re not truly reading Scripture until you allow Scripture to read you. Do you allow the Bible to question your beliefs or do you read it in such a way that it always agrees with you? Do you simply treat the Bible as your personal answer book—a cache of weaponry you can deploy to support…