There are no simple templates for spirituality. So much is complex, which means tension. And in light of the unfolding and relentless density of the world, I’d wager we better get used to it.
Thursday, February 25, 2021
Wednesday, February 24, 2021
Living Spiritual Rhythms - February 24
Life & Death seem to be inextricably woven together, until Death is no longer a necessary feature of Life.
Monday, February 15, 2021
Reflection for the Week - February 15
Luke’s Acts is neither epic, nor a straight telling of history. Rather, it is a story of beginnings and functions as a ‘founding narrative’ for the unfolding drama of the Christian faith, which in Luke’s context was moving towards credibility. Thus, in his re-counting, the reality of a religious movement became narrativized for the first time. This re-telling is deeply engraved with complexity and mysteriously forged by extravagance, and the multiple informers in the story present significant challenges for readers, taking us to the limits of imagination. In fact, this author’s founding narrative sets out a theological, historical, and literary redescription of the world in a quite unique and controversial manner when read in dialogue with other Greco-Roman portrayals of the times.
Thursday, February 11, 2021
Thursday Thoughts - February 11
Letting go of assumed truths about God that turn out not to be true is not betrayal, but wisdom. As enshrined as these assumptions sometimes can be, abandoning them for the evolving ‘truer’ is a worthwhile and challenging adventure that, in this life, knows no end.
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Living Spiritual Rhythms - February 10
Tenacious obscurity sometimes plagues us and we’re unable to see as clearly as we would like. Groping around for illumination saturates our thoughts and feelings, and there are no easy answers to be found. We fear being excluded, alienated, and lost. Yet, living and working through the shadow of time is a continual and viable challenge, as we search for slivers of light, embracing and dispersing them, as we are able.
Monday, February 8, 2021
Reflection for the Week - February 8
In today’s harsh reality of selfishness and greed, some say there is no such thing as a gift. Giving, it is said, is always with motive or interest and that disqualifies it as gift. I would argue that while motive or interest will always be with us in giving, it need not necessarily abolish gift, as this would seem to depend on what the motive or interest are. Let’s say a canceling of gift might be the case if one gave it with the motive of receiving something in return, but if one gifts with a motive to satisfy or please the other and requires nothing in return, then the gift character of giving would not be nullified. That is, other interest wins—over a perverse self-interest—and preserves the possibility of a true gift.
Thursday, February 4, 2021
Thursday Thoughts - February 4
Imagination is an essential of life and a pathway to the discovery of truth. Reason, sense observation, feeling, and our experience all suffer severe impoverishment without the recognition that imagination is the lynch pin that holds them together in a related, yet distinct manner. To be sure, God is a possibility that becomes much more of an accessible reality in and through imagination. I’d wager that for primates like us, there is no truth without imagination.
Wednesday, February 3, 2021
Living Spiritual Rhythms - February 3
Being, knowledge, nature, interpretation, ethics, and the biblical text have a tendency to operate as monologues closed into separate compartments, but none of them can go it alone. A dialogue between each informer is necessary in order to lead us in a better direction and in so doing, to give us enriched, even sumptuous innovative and truth oriented perspectives and possibilities.
Monday, February 1, 2021
Reflection for the Week - February 1
Elasticity is an important feature of our belief in
God. Imagine faith as a web of intricately woven strands and connections that
can be stretched in several directions at one time. Fragile, yet with a viable
strength.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
