Unmasking and denouncing the fear of exposure is no doubt a step towards trust, but we rightly wrestle with ‘who’ is trustworthy – self, other, God. Surely this is not a venture for the uncritical, yet criticism is never an end in and of itself. Letting go of that which entangles us and moving into the laboratory of trust is a challenging task and a liberating joy that begins to diminish illegitimate coverings, while increasing appropriate disclosure.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Monday, April 22, 2013
Reflection for the Week - April 22
Following in the footsteps of the Crucified and Risen One will sometimes carry with it a myriad of difficult consequences in this life. Recall one. As Jesus went into his home town and was amazed at the lack of faith that he found there, we too may encounter complications with the apparently faithless crowds that surround us. Moving ahead is hard in these circumstances, but necessary. We need courage and to not fear, for God is with us on the journey, even though it may appear to us at certain times, to be arduous and unproductive.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
The ZigZag Café - April 18
We will be convening here at the ZigZag café, Suisse, on Thursdays for conversation and dialogue. I invite you to stop by every Thursday for the question of the day. Your thoughts and participation are most welcome. Pull up a stool, avec un café, un thé, ou un chocolat chaud, et un croissant, and join in here on Thursday at the ZZ café.
For today:
Do you think the claim of being a self-determining self is inauthentic?
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Living Spiritual Rhythms – April 17
Metaphor, symbol, and story may be first order forms of discourse that need to be taken seriously when we seek to understand God, ourselves, and the world. Poetry, for example, may be a fuller expression of truth than mathematical formulations and imagination a more reliable guide to the real over the unreal.
Monday, April 15, 2013
Reflection for the Week - April 15
Light is such an amazing phenomena, as it is so infused with a surplus of meaning, and therefore difficult to bring to closure. It appears, uncovers, and illumines, to mention just a few metaphors. In stories, Jesus is said to be the light of all people; to be the light that shines in the darkness. He also is recorded as saying: “I am the light of the world,” and that “when we love one another, we inhabit the light.” As I get older, I enjoy the testimony of John more and more. Metaphors and stories of light are indeed perplexing, but that is one of the reasons why they’re attractive. They open up the unseen, engage and surpass the darkness, and point us towards that which cannot be captured or owned.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
The ZigZag Café - April 11
We will be convening here at the ZigZag café, Suisse, on Thursdays for conversation and dialogue. I invite you to stop by every Thursday for the question of the day. Your thoughts and participation are most welcome. Pull up a stool, avec un café, un thé, ou un chocolat chaud, et un croissant, and join in here on Thursday at the ZZ café.
For today:
What, if anything at all, is the most prevalent cultural enemy to the Christian faith?
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Living Spiritual Rhythms – April 10
Prominent trends in Western culture tend to attempt to give everyone a spiritual and cultural lobotomy – the trite and superficial, silly and absurd, brain dead and uncreative often identify Westerners, and Christians are following close behind. The inevitable plight of the faithful seems to be that we’re always bringing up the rear.
I wager we are experiencing the deep psychosis of cultural despotism that is thoroughly soaked into our Christian flesh and blood, leaving us with empty imaginations. Our bones are disintegrating before our eyes, our hearts are exploding, and there is no strength left in our guts. Too much fast food spirituality.
Instead of subverting, challenging, and rebelling; leading our culture into redemptive ways - into a release from captivity, Christians tamely and politely do what everyone else is doing: participate in the lobotomy. Hail sound bites, venerate relativism, and worship the idol making self. These are some of the proposed present illusions for the good life. What a joke. Following the Crucified and Risen One and not thoughtless, frivolous Western culture, is our Exodus. God, bring us out of the inauthentic and into the land of the living. Free us from the cultural and spiritual lobotomizing taking place and renew and re-shape us in Kingdom fitting ways that confront and expose the allure of the counterfeit and deceptive.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Reflection for the Week - April 8
Christian truth is something like a complex web of fragile inter-related connections and relations that stretch, but do not break. When truth is pictured in such a reality-image, it allows us a flexibility to explore new possibilities without the fear that if we find more truth, everything we have previously embraced and believed will disintegrate. Not so. I would wager that during our journey some strands will come undone and have to be re-joined elsewhere, while others are going to be innovative and expand the web to another dimension, as it takes on greater intricacy, verve, and splendor.
Thursday, April 4, 2013
The ZigZag Café - April 4
We will be convening here at the ZigZag café, Suisse, on Thursdays for conversation and dialogue. I invite you to stop by every Thursday for the question of the day. Your thoughts and participation are most welcome. Pull up a stool, avec un café, un thé, ou un chocolat chaud, et un croissant, and join in here on Thursday at the ZZ café.
For today:
Do you think there are problems associated with being over passionate about work?
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Living Spiritual Rhythms - April 3
On Easter Sunday someone said, “I was at Swiss L’Abri in 1955 and there was no money for food. We prayed and God provided by a gift to be able to buy some.” Well, I thought, today in 2013, we again have no money for food and are praying for God to provide. Please join us.
Monday, April 1, 2013
Reflection for the Week - April 1
As Easter has just passed and we were more intentionally immersed in the death and resurrection of Christ, may this remarkable event and its significance remain with us in new and refreshing ways throughout the year. How grateful we can be that Jesus inaugurated the Kingdom of God, brought salvation to Israel and the world, was victorious over death through the resurrection, and opened the way into deep and everlasting community with God. On this basis, Easter is a daily affair that allows us to re-live the experience of our own release from captivity in Egypt; our own exodus, which will take us through the Promised Land and eventually into a new heaven and earth.
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