Author: Jocelyn

  • Mid-Week Quiet Service

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    Jocelyn
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    A few months ago my friend/pastor and I started a short, simple contemplative service in our 100-year-old stained glass sanctuary every Wednesday from 12noon – 12:45pm. We call it Quiet Worship, Quiet Service, or sometimes, just Quiet. I wanted to share it with you in case: you’re local and you’d like to come! you’re far…

  • “Today salvation has come to this household.”

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    Jocelyn
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    I’m so bad at remembering. For the past few years, I’ve been stewing over how/what to create to help our family remember things that God has done. In case you hadn’t noticed, remembering is a really big deal to God. All throughout the Scriptures, God tells His people to remember what He has done — for a…

  • bringing heaven / bringing hell

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    Jocelyn
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    I hear a lot of conversation surrounding: How do we, as Jesus-followers, bring heaven to earth? It is, indeed, the beautiful beginning place of the Lord’s prayer: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done — on earth as it is in heaven.” This conversation is important, wonderful, great. But, I think we could get a…

  • I Stand Amazed (How Marvelous)

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    Jocelyn
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    Do you know any hymns? In my growing-up years, my dad would sing us to sleep with the hymns. I’ve done the same with my boys, committing more and more to memory over the years. Admittedly, a few of the hymns have some wonky theology, but overall they are a rich genre of Scripture set…

  • “I’ll just break it again.” A story about a ceramic travel coffee mug.

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    Jocelyn
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    Last year, I experienced a great deal of newfound freedom in one particular area of my life. During that time, I happened upon a ceramic travel coffee mug that, to me, represented visually that area of freedom. So, I bought it as a celebration of what God had done. Three weeks later, the ceramic travel…

  • Cheers! to yielded dependence

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    Jocelyn
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    Happy New Year! Did you make any resolutions? I love making resolutions. They feel so fresh and clean and hopeful and anticipatory. Usually mine are something about bettering myself (don’t eat so many Oreos!) or bettering my family life (stop over-committing!). This year as I set about making resolutions, I remembered a mentor of mine…

  • 2015 Book Reviews, part 2.

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    Jocelyn
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    I read a dozen books this year! Here is a little review for each of the last six. The Heart of the Matter, Graham Greene **** 189 pages. Fiction. Difficulty (1-5): 3.5 Graham Greene is hands-down one of my very favorite novelists. Akin to George Eliot’s Silas Marner, he undergirds his fiction with theological tones and…

  • 2015 Book Reviews, part 1.

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    Jocelyn
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    I read a dozen books this year! Here is a little review for each of the first six: Walking with God through Pain & Suffering, Timothy Keller ***** 384 pages. Theology of Pain and Suffering. Difficulty (1-5): 4.5 Questions about pain and suffering and a good (?) God top the intellectual-theological charts for millennials, whether…

  • A little, horrifying Christmas prayer

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    Jocelyn
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    I’ve been reading the Christmas story (Luke 1:5 – 2:40) as often as I can this season. Which has only been a few times. I’ve been hung up, as I have been in Christmases past, on this Gabriel & Mary conversation that ends with Mary’s brilliant, simple, horrifying prayer in Luke 1:38:   “Behold, I…

  • They’re back! The Passions of Christ’s Advent Devotional Cards

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    Jocelyn
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    Happy December! The Passions of Christ’s Advent Devotional Cards are back again for the 2015 advent season. The Passions cards are available in two ways: Free pdf download (perfect for reading on your e-reader device) when you subscribe via email to lifewithjocelyn.com. If you are already an email subscriber, but want the pdf link sent…