Sometimes it takes a crisis (a crisis of faith, of relationship, of conscience, of disconnection) to open up the familiar in order to reveal something more authentic and healing in the unfamiliar.
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“What is the greatest joy in life?” John asked me after soundly beating me during one of our annual games of racquetball. I figured it was a trick question, so I joked, “A double cheeseburger with a plate of onion rings and a beer?”
This Sunday, I am beginning a new series entitled, “Peace in the Broken: Living with the Question.” How might questions widen our faith in ways that connect us more deeply with our lives, with life around us, and with the very source of our being?
This is “Labor Day Sunday,” and our reality is decidedly different in CoVid/2020 — our encounters with others significantly more limited, socially distanced, and mostly masked. We’re all a little more anxious, and life much more unpredictable.
This Sunday, Rev. Linda McDermott and I will finish our series as we explore the final virtue that we might practice as a way of bringing more hope to times that seem otherwise — the virtue of Adventurous Civility. When you least expect to find hope in an abusive, scary world, civility calls out our wildest possibilities.
It’s hard to be patient with any of this, much less all of it! This Sunday, Rev. Linda McDermott will join me in looking at patience as a virtue we might practice in a new, active way that will bring hope and interest to our politically charged, socially distanced, pandemic time.
A virtue that brings both interest and hope to our human chaos is humility. This Sunday in 11:11 we’ll take a look at how the practice of humility can empower a wider vision — a paradigmatic shift for the kingdom at hand!
These are interesting times; people feeling unheard, unseen, even compelled to do the unthinkable. There’s a lot of anger out there. Times like these call for extreme measures, radical acts of spiritual resistance. Last Sunday we looked at the importance of our words. This Sunday, it’s time for some radical hospitality.
How do we speak and live into the path of Shalom, into the Kingdom of God, in these “interesting” times? For the next few weeks, I’ll be joining others for these Sunday reflections, as well as inviting some guest storytellers and musicians as we explore: “Interesting Times – 6 Virtues for Bringing Interest & Hope to Times that Seem Otherwise,” and let’s lean in to these interesting times with one another, see you Sunday.
This Sunday, July 5th, in eleven:eleven, join Linda and me as we wrestle with some ideas about the myth of independence, the place and purpose of freedom, and the possibility that we are on the verge of a spiritual revolution!