Touchpoints on Spirituality
The Highs and Lows
“I once had a professor who said, “Most people would rather be right than alive.” And what he meant by that, is most people live for the sake of trying to justify themselves and their actions and beliefs, rather than simply being involved in the stuff of life. With all of its highs and lows, joys and sorrows.”
Where God Makes God’s Home
“The one who we say is “Immanuel, God with us,” the one who we say is “The Word made flesh,” the one who we say is “God in our presence” … This one makes his home in a god-forsaken land with god-forsaken people. Which can only mean one thing – there is no god-forsaken land, and there are no god-forsaken people.”
Justified By God, Our Default Setting
Grace and Peace from the Mystery in whom we live and move and have our being. God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Luke 18:9-14 With all due respect to Jean-Paul Sartre, this parable could be called “No Exit.” I feel like I am trapped inside of it, and every attempt I make to dissect and diagnose it leaves me in worse shape than when I started. Don’t be like the Pharisee… I mean, the easy thing is to say,…
Outside the Camp
“You know why I should welcome the stranger? Because I’m strange. You know why you should welcome the stranger? Because you’re strange. You know why God welcomes the stranger – because God is strange. After all, we didn’t crucify him because we thought he was TOO NORMAL!”
The Refiner’s Fire
“Sometimes I wish Jesus would have just come to earth and said, “This is going to hurt me more than it’s going to hurt you.” I would have been good with that. But Jesus is not a Pollyanna. He’s a realist. He will undergo a death and resurrection. And so will we. There’s no way to do an end run around Good Friday to get to Easter. For him or us.”
In Christ All Things Hold Together
“They, with us, heard these words: “In Christ all things hold together.” I want to believe that. I “need” to believe that! And with God’s grace, if we can hold each other together, with patient expectation and prayer, we just might be able to join St. Paul as servants of this gospel.”
God and the Wise Little Girl
“God is verb. God is movement, dance, flow. If God is love, love requires both a lov-er and a lov-ee. God contains both. And anything that lives in relationship with anything else, therefore, lives within God. God doesn’t just cause things to exist, God is present within the relationship of those things.”
The Ongoing Story
“And so, Pentecost is the story of a Christianity that doesn’t end with me and Jesus, and my worship of him, but a story that continues on in you and me. A story of us continuing on and doing the works of Jesus, and even greater things, as he has promised.”
House Dweller
“Who are the green pastures of your life? Who are the still waters? Who has restored your soul? Who has led you in paths of goodness? Been with you in the shadows of life?”
Let It Be
“Now I’m not sure what this says about God the Father, but I am clear on what it says about God the Son. He will not go back on forgiveness. He will not go back on grace. He will not deal with us on the basis of reward and punishment or getting what we deserve. Not now, not next year, not ever.”
Complain, Complain, Complain!
“Our problems are God’s problems. Prayer is in part a way of speaking to God that involves God in our daily lives. And in prayer, we remind God that God has promised to be faithful to being ‘Immanuel’ (God with us).”
The Second Dust-Up
“You see, it was dust and dirt from which we were created, and dust and dirt into which the Mystery gladly breathed its breath and Spirit, and then declared us ‘Very Good.’”
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