And He Says, “Take The Risk”

Whoever we may be, living authentically in God’s image is a risk, because it is a rejection of the self-serving drives that enthrall us and keep us afraid to put our integrity on the line and release our compassion.

The choice is whether on this day to be full of ourselves or have fullness of life. We lean towards self-fullness when we ask, “What’s in it for me?”

The lowly paths are truly the most ambitious because they ask us to make the toughest choices. They require us to make sacrifices for good and not gain. They call forth from us the courage to let go of the lesser ambitions of self-advancement for the greater ambitions of God’s kingdom of grace, generosity, and compassion. They invite us to become big enough to become small, whatever our place in the social strata.

There we will find the treasure, the meaning of our humanity, the real fullness of life. Enduring significance is not found in our achievements; it is found in the countless and small ways we value and touch people

Enduring significance is not found in our achievements; it is… Read More

Dear Chase, Brave Is A Decision

I recently had a little extra time to do some reading. I finished a number of books, and my favorite by far is Carry On, Warrior – the Power of Embracing Your Messy, Beautiful Life by Glennon Doyle Melton. No doubt, this is a mommy book – a book written for moms raising kids.

I’m not even embarrassed it’s my favorite. Because it’s THAT good.

Below is a little sample – it’s a letter she wrote to her son…

*     *     *     *

Dear Chase,

Tomorrow is a big day. Third Grade – wow.

Chase – When I was in third grade, there was a little boy in my class named Adam. Adam looked a little different and he wore funny clothes and sometimes he even smelled a little bit. Adam didn’t smile. He hung his head low and he never looked at anyone at all. Adam never did his homework. I don’t think his parents reminded him like yours do. The other kids teased Adam a lot. Whenever they did, his head hung lower and lower and lower. I never teased him, but I never told the other kids to stop, either.

And I never talked to Adam, not once. I never invited him to sit next to me at lunch, or to play with me at recess. Instead, he sat and played by himself. He must have been very lonely.

I still think about Adam every day. I wonder if… Read More

Shouting About Beautiful Art

Sundays are for sharing and shouting – that’s the point of these shout-outs – I want to share what I found to be particularly fascinating, beautiful, and shout-worthy online this past week…

liz vice post

1. This Song: Empty Me Out by Liz Vice.

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sarah bessey post

2. This post: The Sanitized Stories We Tell by Sarah Bessey. Here’s my favorite line(s): “I feel like we give out gold stars to people who get over things quickly. And like any former evangelical over-achiever I wanted my gold star.

We want people to heal on a timeline. Yes, yes, that’s terrible but aren’t you over it yet?

It makes me wonder how… Read More

Tribalism: Seeing Others As Not Fully Human

Let all guests who arrive be received like Christ, for He is going to say, “I came as a guest, and you received me.” —Rule of St Benedict

I squirm whenever I hear someone talking about “The gays…” or “The Muslims…” or “The illegal immigrants…” or ”The Catholics…” or “The whatevers.” Sure, it probably has something to do with the sweeping generalizations, labeling, stereotyping. But I’m realizing it’s more than that.

When we speak about “The whatevers,” we are identifying “them” as separate from “us.” It’s tribalism, and tribalism is all about who’s in and and who’s out. According to Professor Richard Beck, “Ingroup members are considered to be fully human. Outgroup members are infrahumans” (less than fully human).

As the famous anthropologist Levi-Strauss said, “Humankind ceases at the border of the tribe.”

Belgium psychologist Jacques-Philippe Leyens first coined the term INFRAHUMANIZATION to describe the belief that one’s ingroup is more human than those outside it. A classic case of infrahumanization is found in the US Constitution (Article 1. Section 2. Paragraph 3) where… Read More

God as the Stranger

The theme of welcoming the stranger can be seen throughout Scripture. Abraham and Sarah welcomed three traveling strangers, offering them hospitality and friendship, a place to rest and to eat. When Jesus was born, those who celebrated and visited and brought gifts were strangers. In the story of the Good Samaritan, the wounded man is helped, not by his own people, but by a stranger—a despised Samaritan.

“With the stranger lies surprise, new possibility, contact with that part of God and reality that we have never experienced before.” —Ronald Rolheiser

Parker Palmer, in his book The Company of Strangers says…

The role of the stranger in our lives is… Read More

The Attraction Of Small Graces & Specific Kindnesses

In Phil Needham’s book When God Becomes Small, he shares the following…

I love the story Kathleen Norris tells about her three-year old niece. The girl’s father would drive her to day care in the morning on the way to work, and her mother would pick her up on the way home.

Often the mother would peel an orange and bring it to her daughter when she picked her up.

One day Norris came across her niece playing “Mommy’s office” on the front porch of their home. She asked her niece what… Read More

The Good Kind of Shouting

It’s Sunday again – time for the good kind of shouting – some shout outs. Here’s what I enjoyed online this past week:

 

anne-marie heckt post

1. This post: We’re Meant To Be Swimming In The Deep by Anne-Marie Heckt.
My favorite line(s): “My thoughts drifted to the One who knows me. Who gets me. Better than any other ever, ever could. Water is an elemental love. Sky might be yours. Or loud noises, or wet rain, or heat that cracks the bones, or dancing in the motes of a sunrise. Or reading words and letting them bubble into and over you like champagne.

All of that beauty feeds us and it comes from the One who knows us.

We are meant to be out there, deep, swimming. Not clinging to the shore. Time spent in that beauty is not… Read More