Collecting Clutter I have moved a lot in my life. I do not recall some of my initial moving around when I was young. I was born in Iowa and we moved to Virginia shortly thereafter. Within a few years, when I was around four years old, we moved to California. I lived in the Bay Area and moved around more times than I can count or remember (mostly in Santa Clara and Campbell) until...
This summer for me has been one of language learning and travel to foreign countries — an experience that continues to bring home for me the difficulties involved with human communication. It is hard enough to complete a shopping transaction in a foreign language let alone present a lecture or tell someone how I am doing. Even back home, I feel like my language lets me down and I remain less than fully understood by...
1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. What’s one defining characteristic the whole world has in common? We seem to have a rather unhealthy appetite for sinning in many awful, albeit often creative, ways. Maybe it was lying to our parents about having homework when we were younger, possibly being a bit too harsh with what we say to...
Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. The story of the prodigal son has inspired hope in countless individuals as they have processed their religious experience. Most sermons have incorporated the passage to be primarily directed at Non-Christians, the lost, the unsaved. Some have included Christians who have wandered away from their faith and are desperate to return. They see the faith of...
People who know me or are even acquainted with me know that I worry—a lot—about almost everything. I become anxious over minor, insignificant matters. I overthink things. I often feel like things “just won’t work out” the way I hoped. Lots of people might be able to relate to this as they struggle with anxiety about their present situations or what the future might hold. Christians often struggle with anxiety over sin (issues of guilt,...
“Because of you,” spoke the old friend of God, trembling, holding back heavy tears as he looked out over a sea of remorseless faces, “Because of you,” he spoke, perhaps with frank shock and bewildered grief, “Because of you the LORD became angry with me.” (Deut. 1:27) . Moses These words are among the first of the last sermon of the humblest man of his time: Moses. His text, biblical history to date. His congregation,...
The Spirit prays for us. We do not know what to pray, nor necessarily to pray for that which we do not know what to pray for. Neither did we know how to pray, nor even how to pray for what we do not know to pray for, but our Lord has taught us. He did not merely teach us how to pray, but he has trained us in his own Spirit. It is the...
In recent years, authenticity has become both an ideal and a polemic. Social media users have labored to capture the mundane in beautiful ways. However, social media users have also distorted and feigned authenticity by staging the mundane. Filters and iconic captions have been used to present a particular style of life that is filled with explorations into nature, scenic mountaintop picnics, urban renewal (and gentrification), and lots and lots of coffee. However, most people...
“Lex orandi, lex credendi.” Or so goes the ancient Christian maxim, loosely translated, “As we worship, so we believe.” If the songs we sing shape the way we think, we should be very thoughtful about the way our churches are led in worship. Songs are short, memorable, and have the capacity to pack in a lot of ideas. Arius, the brilliant 5th century heretic, popularized his ideas with catchy songs and hymns. Marketing teams have...
In preparation for a spiritual retreat I, well, am currently taking as I write this, I read Discovering Lectio Divina: Bringing Scripture into Ordinary Life by James C. Wilhoit and Evan B. Howard (2012, Kindle edition). As I have been on this half-day retreat, praying and thinking back over my spiritual autobiography, I can see how the book I chose (with the prompting of the Holy Spirit, I believe) is a necessary and logical next step...
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