There are two things inherent in every human life. The desire to participate in purpose and the understanding that to do so means to engage with something bigger than ourselves. These longings are expressed in the language we use with one another every day. We talk about the meaning of life. We ask, “why does this matter?” or “what is the point?” When we speak of such things, we are speaking of purpose. And whether it be our job, our... Read more
There is something intoxicating about the feeling of a win. Life is full of challenges, ups and downs, struggles and tragedies. We are all searching for a sense of victory. A triumph. I am not very competitive, but I know a lot of competitive people. It’s hard to explain that jolt of exuberance that comes when we win a game of ping-pong or backgammon, let alone the State Championship or the Super Bowl. There is a sense in which this... Read more
I was working through a Biblical commentary on Genesis this week for a work project and came across the word “blameless” in the Hebrew Scripture. God tells Abraham to follow him and “be blameless”. The commentary stated that the Hebrew word for “blameless” means “complete”. I’ve always thought of blamelessness as perfection, a call to get it all correct. And I guess I could see how “perfect” and “complete” could be synonyms. But what if, in this context, there were... Read more
For most of my adult life, one of the most repeated suggestions I receive when I run into a problem is that I need to do a better job prioritizing. To be honest, when people talk about priorities being “out of whack”, I’m often not even sure what they mean. The idea is nice. It sounds simple enough. You are just focusing on the right things, right? But the fact this “problem” seems so simple yet is repeated so often... Read more
It may not be the sexiest of holidays, but Earth Day has a strange way of making me pause and contemplate the world we live in. Kylie and I moved to New York a few years ago and it makes me laugh to think we live and work on two separate islands (Brooklyn [Long Island] and Manhattan). The concrete jungle of the big city is really a chain of islands. Like most New Yorkers, we sometimes yearn for a bit... Read more
When we hear the word “conflict”, most of us associate it with a negative connotation. Even those who secretly love conflict pretend they are championing some other virtue and conflict obsession is just a side effect. We have a certain perspective on conflict in our society. That perspective is that conflict should be avoided at nearly all costs. The only time conflict is justified is when ultimate truth is at stake. Unfortunately, we are getting further and further from a... Read more
From the time we are very young, the concept of ownership is vitally important to us. My nephews are nine and six and the most prevalent content surrounding their tantrums is possession. What is mine? Why do I have to share? Why are they allowed to have their own thing? The nephs will go into fits if their brother is using something that belongs to them OR if they are not being allowed to use something that does not belong... Read more
Throughout Christian Scripture, there is a repeated cycle of death and resurrection. Its greatest climax is on Easter weekend, when we celebrate the death and resurrection of history’s central character, God-in-the-flesh, Jesus Christ. We see this cycle in the Old Testament. The humans in the Garden (life), their sin (Death) and God’s renewed commitment to them (Resurrection). Abram’s life is about God’s promise to him (Life), his shortcomings, trials and mistakes (death), and God’s blessing of a son and many... Read more
Holy Week begins with the celebration of Palm Sunday, representative of Jesus’ “Triumphal Entry” into Jerusalem leading up to his crucifixion. The Christian story is full of moments like these. Staple events that mark an important time, make a distinction, or change the course of perspective. In the Old Testament, people would often set up altars to commemorate and remember these kinds of instances. Culturally, we do this in all sorts of ways. Easter itself is a kind of altar... Read more
One of the things we are hearing in the midst of this pandemic is people wanting to take the time to really consider their lives, their choices, and their perspective. New York is now the “epicenter” of the pandemic and there are all sorts of stories about what is happening in the city. We saw an article about a train being set on fire. There was one about how New York is so empty, there is nobody on the streets... Read more
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