Touchpoints

Touchpoints

Touchpoint is a reflection on where God’s story touches our life story. It is a short homily based on a biblical story of people in the Old and New Testaments and their relationship with God. Our spiritual ancestors’ experience of God’s grace connects with our lives in the present and our relationship with the Divine.

Touchpoint: Jesus speaks about his death. Photo of tiny seedling sprouting.

Seeds of Glory

“Some of us of have had more doodoo in our lives than others. Please share the richness of your story with others. For our children, share your shade, your fruit, your new seeds to be planted. The many new seeds your story produces is what it takes for the main stalk to be glorified. To be multiplied.”
Touchpoint: God So Loved the World; image of a white cross in multi-colored, oil painted canvas using palette knife technique

So Very Loved

“Jesus took his place as the Son of God and returned the compliment to us. To believe Jesus is the Son of God is to believe that we, too, are the children of God, a title greater than any title a human being can be given.”
Community of the Wild Goose; photo image of a goose taking flight

Wild Goose, Free Spirit

“May we offer an alternative. May we open the doors and windows of our personal and institutional temples. May the cords of Jesus swing with love, agapao love. May it have the snap of compassion, the wind of spirit. May it bring the rain of grace to soothe the wounded. May it be embodied in the bread and juice in a new political and religious party. The new wine party poured into new wineskins and shared to all those hungry for authenticity and a full welcome! May it be for the posers, fakers and wannabes that Brennan Manning describes.”
Touchpoint: Get Behind ME, Satan! Oil painting in pastel colors of Satan by Randall Ciotti

Physics, Bro!

“Seriously though, when we attempt to impede the journey of another person, we are interfering in the intimacy with their God that develops in the good times and in the bad times. Sometimes the best thing we can do is accompany them in their journey. I lived Andi’s life for her in order to control the outcomes. Isn’t that what Peter did?”
Touchpoint Temptation of Jesus; photo close up of statue showing Christ suffering

The King of Hearts

“Remember when, for positive thinking, we were supposed to state and repeat the promises of God? Well, here’s one of the promises that was never included in the bunch. Jesus said, “In this world there will be trouble.” (John 16:33) You’ll never see this promise as a magnet on a refrigerator. I get the feeling Jesus’ time in the wilderness was not far from his mind when he said this. Indeed, there is trouble in our outer and inner worlds.”
Touchpoint: Cloud of witnesses. Image is painting of the Transfiguration by Armando Alemdar Ara

Earth, Water and Fire

“In this unimaginable heavenly experience, I love the human part of the story. Peter was terrified and doesn’t know what to say. So, he offers to build dwellings for the three on the mountain. What else would a guy say who has heard about the Ark of the Covenant, the Temples… the tents where God lived? He just was stunned in the moment. I seriously had to stop and laugh. The writer must have had fun writing, ‘Peter didn’t know what to say!’ In the awkward silence, as they gazed up at the three prophets whispering to each other, somebody had to bail everyone out!”
Touchpoint: Jesus went away to a solitary place. Image is a painting by Briton Riviere called Christ in the Wilderness (1899)

Engaging Solitude

“We are vulnerable in our loneliness, but Jesus sought engagement with the light that was previously revealed to him in the Jordan. He quoted words that he held on to his whole young life. He had no desire to be famous or powerful. In this moment, when his fame was at its peak, it was time to go to a solitary place for authentic connection. What a paradox that in a crowd, we may need to be alone to connect.”
Touchpoint: You speak with authority; image is a shadowy figure at a window, symbolizing inner demons

Devils and French Fries

“The evil is real, but I do not understand it. However, since I shook off the idea that I must wage a war against it, I have not encountered it. It has no life-giving breath, but only a stink in the air. Maybe a good candle and a centering prayer will help create an emotional receptivity to God as king rather than a panic-driven election of a false god.”
Touchpoint: Fishers of Men; watercolor of disciples with nets in the water beside a boat

Catch and Release

“Satan is called the Prince of the Air. Of the air! What a joke! Evil and all its negativity does not have power except that which is given. It demands a response and receptivity to give it breath. Until then, it is just air. Spirit is breath. The breath we breathe. Evil has lost an eternal battle and simply annoys us in its desperate, vulnerable state.”
Touchpoint: Come and See. Illustration in chalk of Jesus calling two disciples.

You’re Soaking in It!

“What Jesus was bringing was peace, no more religious destruction, or death… a life that is forever. Jesus brought life. Jesus brought life into the temples. He brought life into the homes of the ailing. He brought life to the seas and to the valleys, to the mountain tops and the desert floors. Jesus brought life. Jesus did not choose life. Life was not chosen. He was soaking in it.”
Touchpoint: Baptism; close-up photo of sparkling blue water clo

Immersed in Life

“As I stared out and watched this living metaphor, I thought about how in my suffering, Spirit was no longer separate or dormant in my life. It did not reside in my practices, and it need not be conjured up emotionally. It is ever present and stirred by my conscious awareness of its silent, life-giving power. It fascinates me that we are more comfortable talking about the force in Star Wars than the third person of the Trinity in all its power.”
Touchpoint: The Word Became Flesh. Illustration of ghostly Christ figure on a watercolor background featuring Bible verse from John 1:1.

Word Swaddling

“It is a Word that can only be birthed in humbleness. This might sound trite, but maybe that’s the problem. I’m afraid to appear simple minded to others if I say the ord. This Word is available to all of us but we see it as ineffective, inefficient, and powerless. That Word is love. In my opinion, our modern culture does not see God as Word with the same fervency as the Jews and the Greeks did.”