I wonder, if we were to stop people at random in the street on December 24 and ask them what they want most for Christmas, how many would say, “I want to see Jesus”? I believe that the single most important consideration during the sacred season of Advent is intensity...
00305 – No Limits on God
The problem is, many of the people in need of saving are in churches, and at least part of what they need saving from is the idea that God sees the world the same way they do. What if the gravel of a parking lot looks as promising to God as the floorboards of a...
00295 – Seeing and Knowing God
If the soul is to know God, it must also forget itself and lose itself. For as long as it sees itself, it will not see and know God.
00284 – A Few Clear Images of God
I do not feel the need to see all of God at once, to comprehend God, as if I even could. It is enough for me to have a few clear images of how God is. So long as they resonate with Scripture and with my experience and so long as they produce in me the fruits of the...
00197 – Can’t See, Can’t Think
The greatest need of our time is to clean out the enormous mass of mental and emotional rubbish that clutters our minds and makes of all political and social life a mass illness. Without this housecleaning, we cannot begin to see. Unless we see, we cannot think.
00196 – New Way to Write Headlines
Sometimes I just want it to stop. Talk of COVID, looting, brutality. I lose my way. I become convinced that this “new normal” is real life. Then I meet an 87-year-old who talks of living through polio, diphtheria, Vietnam protests and yet is still enchanted with life....
00150 – Advent Anticipation
There is more to life than we previously imagined. Angels hide in every nook and cranny, magi masquerade as everyday people, and shepherds wear the garments of day laborers. The whole earth is brimming with glory for those with eyes to see and ears to hear. from The...
00143 – God in the Flesh
Do not grieve or complain that you were born in a time when you can no longer see God in the flesh. He did not in fact take this privilege from you. As he says, “Whatever you have done to the least of my brothers and sisters, you have done to me.” —————Gender-neutral...
00138 – Looking Backward, then Forward
Somewhere near the intersection of Grief and Gratitude is a scenic overlook where you can glance back over the terrain you have already traveled, then catch a glimpse of the journey still to come and look forward to the trip.
00117 – God Is Present
Who God is and how big God is does not change with our acknowledgment or ignorance of God. What changes is the size of our life and our environment and our hope. Take God for granted and your world shrinks. Get a glimpse of who God is and your universe expands....