Category: spiritual formation
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rhythms for when your former rhythms (i.e. attending church?) fall through… for whatever reason
When former rhythms stop working (for whatever reason), I’ve learned that I need to replace them. Otherwise I fairly consistently just abandon whatever I’d been formerly doing. Rhythms are great because then when we miss a day (or three), we can just pick up where we left off. No guilt, no shame. We’ve tried a…
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waiting: if only I knew how long
I’ve learned to love to wait. Waiting is one of those things I know I’m not naturally very good at, and really didn’t want to learn, either. Cynically, perhaps, I have learned that often the dreamy anticipation of a thing brings more pleasure than the actual realization of the thing. More optimistically, I know that…
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Embodied spirits. Spiritual Formation series, part 11.
We are embodied spirits, after all. In the western world, we keep these two awfully separate – body and spirit. We tend to view the spirit as eternal, and the body as temporary. But it’s just not that simple. If you tend to believe what Jesus’ friends wrote about what happened to him after he…
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let Love grow + practice
Everything is coming back to life in my small city. The maple tree in our front yard is dropping its neon green seeds. Tiny fuchsia leaves are pushing their way out of dried-crispy grape vines entwined around our basketball hoop. Even my fiddle leaf fig tree in the climate-controlled corner of our dining room seems…
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love your enemies
One of the most revolutionary teachings of Jesus was: Love your enemies. It is still a revolutionary thought. And, even more, in practice, loving your enemies has the potential to change everything, even your heart. Here’s Jesus, just to jog your memory: You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and…
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something better than Good, Fine, Great
“How was your weekend?” “Good.” “How’s work going?” “Fine.” “How’s your friend, so-and-so?” “Oh, he’s great. Yeah, just great.” Sounds familiar, right? Isn’t that pretty much the sum of 95% of our in-passing conversations? I’ll let you in on a little secret: Sometimes, in-passing, I’m flat out lying. And I know you are, too.…
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the salvation of loss
I’ve heard a few stories of loss this week. No deaths or anything that would make the church bulletin prayer list, really — just more of your everyday, behind-the-scenes, run-of-the-mill kinds of loss. Loss of friendships. Loss of psychological bearings in a new season of life. Loss of inheritance. Loss of what were sunny expectations…
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Maybe you CAN be and have all that you want…
…if you let God have influence over what it is that you want. I don’t think I’m alone in my insatiable desire for more. I think all of us have some discontentment, idealism, or longing — whatever you want to call it. We just have it for different things. Some of us can’t get enough…
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I need pastoring.
Yes, I need pastoring. But it’s not what you think. First, let me say that I think overall we’ve done a grave disservice to the title and meaning of “pastor.” Because when I say “pastor,” don’t you automatically only think of people who work at church buildings and deliver sermons on Sunday mornings?? It’s sad,…
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Soul Practice: Walking through Difficult Things
I’ve run up against something difficult today, and I’ve had to preach to my heart again the sermon about what to do with difficult things. Anyway, I thought maybe it could help a few of you, in case you, too, have run up against something difficult recently, and so here she is. Dearly beloved: It…