Christian living is living moment to moment as an expression of Shalom — an average day like any other day (which, to clarify, is always a God-moment waiting to be discovered!)
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Much of what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount (as with most of his life and teachings) was unexpected and contrary to popular perceptions.
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.
“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.
The life of faith makes peace with imperfection because faith recognizes that among our common traits as humans whom God loves, is imperfection.
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!