Good morning... "I think we are all living in what Rohr calls liminal time," she said to me at a backyard reception following the funeral. Intuitively I agreed, then I thought to myself, "I need to look up the definition of that word again." Liminal. Wikipedia shares this drawing and this detailed description: "In [...]
Good morning... I followed the suggestion given in yesterday's blog post, Stand Actively Silent. "Active silence," Dr. James Johnson explained, "is stepping to the back of the line and creating space and opportunity for others to speak, especially those who don’t look like me or experience life as I do – those voices that I don’t normally hear." In [...]
Good morning... Since 2006, God has organically grown my spiritual gifts in the rich soil of Northside Church. I have seen many staff members come and many go, but one person I have seen stay, grow, and flourish is Dr. James Johnson, our Director of Adult Discipleship. During this period of pandemic, our church has begun sharing online [...]
Good morning... If I am a grain of wheat, I wrestle with John 12:24. Jesus says, “Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over." You see, I like [...]
Good morning... My old iPhone 5-S died. I posted about that yesterday. As the day unfolded, it became clear: our morning message was not about my phone. It was about our shared sense of losing touch. Stripped by the chaos of Corona, our economic breakdown, and the unrest of injustice, collectively we have lost a lot. As manmade [...]
Good morning... Separation from our old normal happened bit by bit. First the cancelation of highly anticipated large group gatherings, then unplugging from beloved small group supports. Next staying away from familiar buildings, church, school, office, then safely distancing from the homes of family and friends. Gradually we reduced ourselves down to computer contact, Zoom, online learning, and [...]
Good morning... We wake to a special morning in the worldwide church. Today we celebrate Pentecost Sunday. Remember how the wildfire spread of God's Holy Spirit began? On the day of Pentecost all the Lord’s followers were together in one place. Suddenly there was a noise from heaven like the sound of a mighty wind! It filled the [...]
Good morning... After watching violence erupt all over the news following the very sad public killing of George Floyd and hearing story after story of private violence against young teenaged girls in the first episode of Filthy Rich, a documentary about Jeffery Epstein, I went to sleep. In the middle of the night I woke after a short [...]
Good morning... Fortunately, God does not come to us in just one life-altering moment, whispering from within, "You are fully known. You are fully loved. You don't need to pretend to be anyone." Instead God comes to us again and again, in refreshing new ways, day after day. The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is [...]
Good morning... "Good morning Sue," she wrote after yesterday's post, Some Parents Do Harm. "I discovered this beautiful book The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charles Mackesy. Wow! It is a true gem that echoes your message today. Below is a link to his story and two touching pages from the book - just [...]
