Let Your Life Speakby Parker Palmer This book Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer was recommened to me by my friend Shayne. It has been surprizingly impactful for me over the past few days as I’ve read through it. Here are my notes. If you are looking for a quick summer read and want to consider the idea of “vocation,” i.e., how what you are doing with your life should be connected to who you are, then you should... Read more

The Ark Once there was a father and mother who had a little son. He was a good boy and was their only child and they loved him very much. They played with the little boy for hours and he was the light of their life. The little boy was a naturally friendly child. From and early age the father and mother taught the boy about the importance of friendship. They modeled friendship for the boy and they trained and... Read more

Boulevard des Capucines, 1873 by Monet. This has always been one of my very favorite paintings. I love Monet anyway, what’s not to like…but I love that this picture drew such criticism at the time. I love that it was part of the first exhibit of impressionist art and that it is so beautiful to look at. I usually spend quite a bit of time in front of this painting when I’m at the Nelson-Atkins here in town, so it... Read more

Our church staff did an exercise called visio divina yesterday. I borrowed and adapted this idea from my friend Dan Wilburn who has been experimenting with it lately. We all know of lectio divina or “divine reading” of the scripture. The visio is about a divine viewing. It’s based around the idea that this is a God-bathed world and that God is lurking everywhere, always ready to show up and teach us something about ourselves, God’s self, or the world... Read more

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SESSION FOUR: Before it was called Europe, this land was known as Christendom. In the post Christendom era of the church we don’t “have” a mission, we “are” a mission…the gospel is not something which is proclaimed so much as it is something that is embodied. Thus we must own the idea that theology is always incarnational. [ ASIDE: I would agree with that statement, except that I would emphasize that this should have always been our theology/ecclesiology. I have... Read more

SESSION THREE How to find yourself if you are lost is sort of like GPS – it works by triangulation. He has three points on the triangle which have big circles around them which form rings. – Context and Culture– Gospel and Theology– Structures and Church Context and Culture:Who are we? What is our language, what is our social setting. Most of us cannot talk about our lives. We have now we are actually living our lives and how we... Read more

I’m attending a conference at Jacob’s Well church here in town lead by Tim Keel. I’ve been taking a few notes and just wanted to post them here in case anyone is interested! Pretty thought provoking stuff so far. I’ve only been able to transcribe the first 2 of the 4 sessions so far. I’ll do more later: SESSION ONE / A World in Flux: Location, Navigation, and the Dynamics of Being Lost THESIS:As a culture we are disoriented and... Read more

If you have an extra moment, please go read about the world hunger crisis and if you feel so inclined, sign this petition for the G8 conference coming this summer. They really need to act now on behalf of the world’s poorest people. Then, if you’ve never seen the movie The Girl in the Cafe rent it and watch it and you’ll be incredibly glad that you signed the petition. It’s a powerful show which explains the power and political... Read more

Pray Where you Are – The Lost DogsI’ve been praying the hours for the past five years. My general practice is to use the Book of Common Prayer liturgy for the morning prayers. I just do it online. That way I’m reading along with the lectionary readings – which syncs me up with a lot of Christians around the world. The rest of the day I generally do the Divine Hours stuff from Phyllis Tickle – though I’m pretty lame... Read more