“We have all been there, and it feels like the end of the world. It’s like a chickadee being hit by and H-Bomb. Here’s the thing, though. I no longer think of it as block. I think that is looking at the problem from the wrong angle. If your wife locks you out of the house, you don’t have a problem with your door.” –Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird _________________________________________________________ What do you do when your inner-writer goes on... Read more
“One way or another, we are always remembering… there is no escaping it even if we want to, or at least no escaping it for long, though God knows there are times when we try to, don’t want to remember. In one sense the past is dead and gone, never to be repeated, over and done with, but in another sense, it is of course not done with at all or at least not done with us…” Frederick Buechner, A... Read more
This was originally the sermon I preached at Redemption Church on September 21, 2014. It has been edited into a long-form essay here. If you are a pastor, feel free to copy and use any of this. SHIFT: From Exploitation to Stewardship The Catholic theologian Ronald Rolheiser says that to be human is to live with an excess of desire. “Desire is always stronger than satisfaction,” he says. (p.3) To be humans is to have an excess of desire. Not all desire... Read more
I confess that I’m tired of setting up online accounts. I’m tired of creating passwords. You can’t do anything anymore without setting up an account. For instance, I just want to get scores from the ESPN app. I don’t want to customize my experience because I don’t care that much. I’m going to use this thing to check scores while I’m out and about, maybe six or seven Saturdays during college football season tops, and I’m happy to give ESPN my patronage.... Read more
More Americans believe in witchcraft, ghosts, and UFOs than agree with Citizens United. When 80% of the people agree on an important issue & the leaders refuse to act, something has to change. I’m for finding a peaceful solution. Citizen’s United refers to a 2010 Supreme Court case on how elections are financed. The ruling said that corporations are people, and money is speech. You can’t limit free speech. So corporations should be able to spend money (speech) like people do. But we... Read more
My friend and writing compatriot Katie Savage has written a review of Shrink, at her blog “Sprucing Up the Narthex.” Katie’s a really good writer (check out Grace in the Maybe), and I’m grateful for her engagement with the ideas in Shrink. Katie will always make you laugh and make you think. Here’s an excerpt from the review: “The church is facing a huge problem,” writes author and pastor Tim Suttle. “We have become enamored with size. We have become... Read more
I’ve been reading some Wendell Berry this week in preparation for what I’m talking about on Sunday. I love his straight forward and often hilarious take on life–for instance: hell, or limits, or farming. I ran across this note int he introduction to his book, Sex, Economy, Freedom, and Community, which is a collection of eight essays. This is from the preface entitled “The Joy of Sales Resistance,” which is written as a letter to “Dear Reader.” Wendell Berry is... Read more
When my boys were little guys we would go out to eat every Friday evening. It was kind of our family tradition (still is)… eat a meal together, & try to connect at end of a long week. When they were young & squirmy my job was to find ways to keep them sitting down at the table & not running around, so I’d tell stories or play games. We would often go to this place called Jason’s Deli. While Kristin... Read more
We talked about idols last week at Redemption Church. It felt like a hard sermon to give, because I think the idolatry of the church over the past few centuries has caused a lot of pain. So many people have fallen in love with a small “g” god, that promised them the world and couldn’t deliver. The realization that we are certain of very little in the life, and that even when we get the very things we think will satisfy... Read more
I confess that I finished the book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking a couple of weeks ago, and have been thinking about it a lot since then. I’m pretty sure this isn’t the last time I will read it. I’m an introvert and this book taught me a lot about myself and about the way I interact with people. I confess that this book made me more aware of the deference we show toward... Read more
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