Citizens of Heaven
The church and the world have a murky relationship. Historically we’ve tended to either embrace worldly power to try and create Christian empires or withdraw entirely writing off the world as a doomed and broken place. That said there have been lots of individuals and communities who’ve walked a line somewhere in between. This blog is for people looking for that challenging middle way between embracing worldly power and forsaking the world God loved into being.
Cake
As long as we believe that everyone can be rich, and that everyone has the same opportunity. there won’t be an angry mob gathering at the gates of the palace. As long as we believe that false myth though, there will also never be economic justice. Continue reading
Plant a Tree
The conviction that progress will continue and that things can only get better makes planting trees easier. It’s easier to work on building the right kind of world when it seems like all our efforts will yield a harvest sevenfold or tenfold. But what happens to our desire to plant trees when the bad guy wins? Or when death wipes out the gains of a lifetime? What happens to us when we see that progress may in fact be reversed? That all we’ve built may be lost? Continue reading
The alarm clock
Somehow, the connection between comfort and safety that our brains draw doesn’t change even when the discomfort is good for us. We still associate the discomfort with risk or danger even when it might be necessary. Continue reading
Love and sacrifice
Christ’s love was made known by freely giving his life away in teaching, healing, serving, and death: all without obligation or encumbrance. Acknowledging that means that freely striving to make the right sacrifices is part of my calling, and communicates love in a way that very little else does. Continue reading
You and me
It is an interesting and useful question to ask what part of who we are is nature and what part is nurture… But maybe the more important question for our daily movement through God’s world is what part of ourselves is only possible because of the person in front of us, at this very moment? Continue reading
Bear ye one another’s burdens
With a physical thing bearing another’s burden actually alleviates it. Taking that extra grocery bag means that the burden is literally and immediately lighter. The burdens of the heart aren’t so simple. Continue reading
Better not easier
Exploring the depth, joy, and richness of our siblings will take work. It will take discipline, mutual support, and mutual love. It won’t be easier. But it will be better. Continue reading
“I will write it on their hearts”
We need to stop saying “change is coming, but…” It’s coming. It’s here. You, me, and every single person who goes to church and identifies as a Christian needs to be more like the Jesus we follow. Continue reading
“The days are surely coming, says the Lord”
The story of God is new life after death. The story of God is the story of hope, even when there should be none. The Spirit has a role for you and me in the world that is coming, even if we don’t know what that role is. Continue reading
Self-discipline
This kind of discipline matters. It is a kind of willful attention to intentional priorities. It may be a struggle because those intentional priorities might stand in contrast to our habits or behaviours. In short, our disciplines may not reflect where we’ve been but may instead reflect who we’re called to become. Continue reading
