Sometimes, when I go to the movies, I can’t tell the film’s name 24 hours later. It’s all gone: plot, players, why I bothered to spend $11 to sit in a dark room for two hours. There are those few, though, that affected me so profoundly that, even now, 26 years later, I can still remember where I was when, unexpected, “The Mission” reshaped my soul. Having grown up in a conservative Christian home, I’d learned, by other names, notions... Read more
Right after my last blog offering, our president chimed on the issue of gay marriage, thus making the topic even more front in center for our culture, and necessitating the conversation for all people of faith. The many comments on my last post included pleas for ‘clarification’ on my part, so I’ll try to do that briefly. But the main point of this post is ponder, with you, the implications of the fact that people who love Christ see things... Read more
In the marvelous little book “I Quit”, Geri Scazzero writes, “once you end the pretense of superficiality and ‘niceness’ that characterizes so much of the Christian culture today, you will experience liberation, freedom, and a genuine body life that is truly a taste of the kingdom of heaven”. The single little paragraph explodes with important truths for me and, I hope, for you too: 1. Superficiality and Pretense are woven into Christian culture. It’s not just Christians, of course, who... Read more
In my last post I wrote: Until I’m willing to see both the idolatry and insufficiency of the present “McWorld” system, I’ll also fail to see the radically hopeful nature of the gospel, which provides an exit strategy from these false hopes as it invites us into so much more than a ticket to heaven. Assuming that I do see the insufficiency of the present worldview (no matter who’s in power), only clears the deck of false hopes. It deconstructs. ... Read more
The losses and damages characteristic of our present economy cannot be stopped, let alone restored, by “liberal” or “conservative” tweakings of corporate industrialism, against which the ancient imperatives of good care, homemaking, and frugality can have no standing. – Wendell Berry Now that Mitt Romney has effectively vanquished all other contenders, the real election posturing can begin, and we all know it won’t be pretty. More importantly though, we also know it won’t be true, or at the least very... Read more
I’m driving east today from Seattle, into the mountains for some R&R (Reading & wRiting). I’ve been east often during this past ski season, often enough to watch the snow pile up, to watch upper story windows become encased in snow. Up in these coastal mountains, most of that rain that famously falls in Seattle comes down as snow, creating tons of beauty. Still, enough is enough, and one begins to wonder, with the white stuff still falling in late... Read more
I cut myself Saturday morning, right on the tip of my first finger, which is not the best place to bleed if you like writing. Immediately, though, things begin happening throughout my whole body to begin a healing process (you’ll forgive my layman’s understanding of this?): Elements conspire to stop the blooding. White cells attack and confine potentially infectious intruders. Skin is miraculously reconstituted. Scab falls away. Done. This is happening all the time in both visible and invisible ways... Read more
I was privileged to attend the Annual Seattle Pacific Business Breakfast yesterday and listen to David Brooks, a favorite columnist of mine from the NY Times talk about the shift in ethos that’s been occurring in our culture over the last fifty years. In the midst of all that he said so well, one thing stood out to me. In an after session Q&A, David noted that, when he’s on Meet the Press, he’ll chat with the appointed spokespeople from... Read more
Yes, it’s Good Friday. Yes, I pondered as a child, how going to church on a Friday night, listening to depressing music, and hearing the familiar story of Jesus’ death, told with excessive attention to each gory detail was, in any way, “good”. Yes, I’m now the guy up front talking on Friday night, as other little kids are forced to go sit with their parents to once again live the ritual of remembering Christ’s death. But, No! I’m not... Read more
It’s early – 5:30 or so, when I hear the first birds of morning as light and sound bid me to wake and join the living. I lay in bed and ponder what Wednesday must have been like for Jesus during that week between the height of popularity and the unified chorus of “crucify him!” spewed from the lips of the jealous, and the angry, and the fearful. The all knowing Jesus knew of his own impending death. We know,... Read more
Fibonacci Faith: Changing Everything
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