A Matched Pair of Restraining Orders

February 18, 2013 By 4 Comments

Guest Post by Cathy Warner

One Sunday during my first year of parish ministry, I stood in the church narthex waiting to begin the service, when Barney, the neighbor of a twenty-year church member, ran red-faced from the street screaming, “Help me, help me!”

Barney, who’d been coming to church for the summer, was sweating and trembling in his worn polyester suit, and for a few moments I thought his suffering was physical until Shirley (the twenty-year member) charged in after him, also yelling.

They shouted simultaneously: She tried to hit him with her car. He was stalking her.

Shirley towered over me, blonde and vicious, while Barney cowered behind my back screaming his own accusations. I tried to remain calm. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Faith, Relationships, Uncategorized Tagged With: , 4 Comments

Come Before Winter Part Two

December 27, 2012 By 2 Comments

Continued from yesterday.

Paul faced the winter of death, and Timothy faces the winter of lost opportunity. If he doesn’t come before winter, the ships will go to dock to wait out the harsh months. He won’t be able to journey until spring, and by that time Paul believes he will be dead. Now is the time, he tells Timothy. Before winter.

When Joseph Campbell lectured on Dante’s life chart in the Convivio, it was in the context of his own charting of an archetypal life pattern. He developed it from his study of world mythologies. He calls it the hero’s journey. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Vic Sizemore, Writing Tagged With: , , 2 Comments

The Work Awaits, Part Two

October 31, 2012 By 15 Comments

Almost exactly two years ago, I made my Good Letters debut with a post titled “The Work Awaits,” in which I wrote about my vocational insecurities and obstacles, and how living out my life as a writer hasn’t felt the way I expected it to.

This sequel is long in coming, and it’s my last post as a regular contributor.

The two years that have marked my tenure here happened to coincide with one of the most difficult periods of my life. I’ve used this space to work through many of the puzzles I found myself facing at midlife.

I’ve written about my father, depression, diabetes, not being a mother, Jazzercise, John Mayer, and Peanut M&Ms. Mostly I’ve wondered: Am I doing what I’m meant to be doing, in the way I’m meant to be doing it?

And also: Is this all there is? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Sara Zarr Tagged With: , , , 15 Comments

Make Your Life an Altar

October 10, 2012 By 5 Comments

I recently came across a short devotional on the Abraham and Isaac story. You know the one:

God tells Abraham to take his only son up a mountain and burn him on an altar. God ultimately spares Isaac and never intended him to actually die. It’s a harrowing scene nonetheless, and one that many unbelievers cite as a reason for rejecting God.

I’m not going to attempt an apologetic here. What I want to explore has to do with the concluding thought from that devotional:

“So make your life an altar to God. Not to get what you want, not to spare something sacred, but to experience the faithfulness of God each day.”

“Make your life an altar” is easy to say and sounds so delightfully simple. But really, how do you do that? Is it an incantation? Say the words “make my life an altar, Lord” and sit back and assume it’s happening? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Faith, Sara Zarr Tagged With: , 5 Comments