Gaining a heart of wisdom
Sunday Scripture When I showed up at her door with muffins, I had no idea how sick she had become or how short her precipitous decline would be. In hindsight, I'm grateful for the memory of that last visit with a friend, with her flitting between table and kitchen counter and me working hard to… Continue reading How to Cope with Frustration, Disappointment, and Fear at Christmas Time
Sunday Scripture "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God." (John 1:1) John begins his story about the life of Jesus on this planet by revealing to his readers what it had taken him nearly three long years to… Continue reading In Your Dealings with Jesus, Begin with Awe and then Move On
Sunday Scripture Using the lens of what C.S. Lewis called "the baptized imagination," I try to picture what it must have been like for Jesus's brothers to sit around the breakfast table or to do weekend chores with a sinless sibling. After John, the Gospel writer, had opened his own lens wide enough to take… Continue reading Celebrating God in the Neighborhood
Became. On this first Sunday of Advent, pause with me for a moment to soak in the stunning presence of the word "became" in connection with God the Son. Immutable and eternally uncreated, God became something else: Infinite became finite; Eternal became temporal; Invisible became visibly a baby, born in a remote part of Palestine and tethered to flesh… Continue reading The Word Became Flesh ~ Sunday Scripture
Wild extremes live on the bandwidth that comprises Christian faith. At one end of the scale are those who believe scarcely a thing at all, but even this is not as frightening to me as those on the end of the spectrum who have God all figured out. With algebraic precision, they are able to… Continue reading The Gift of Wonder and God’s Glorious “And”
“Wait,” He said, and locked His gaze with eleven pairs of eyes brimming with question marks. “Wait. I have been your constant companion for three years, walking long deserted roads, sharing our meager meals, sleeping under the stars. I have answered your questions and rebuked your faithlessness, and now it is time for me to… Continue reading Wait for the Spirit of Christmas
I have invited the readers who visit Living Our Days to join me in reading C.S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces, and to return here each Thursday for a discussion. If you're just joining us, you can find the reading schedule here and last week's discussion here. Living on this country hill in Maine, it’s easy to feel… Continue reading Till We Have Faces (3): Holiness and Horror
Peeling potatoes for dinner, I was listening to music -- a lovely arrangement around a poem by Robert Frost. Of course, I couldn't help but sing along until . . . "BONG!" The clock in the living room began chiming the hour. The sudden dissonance stopped my singing, but not my enjoyment, because I love that clock,… Continue reading The Temporary Dissonance
Four days into 2016 and already my resolve is being tested. Maybe that's true for you as well, and as unsettling as it is to encounter our own lack of self-discipline or perseverance, it is certainly a helpful perspective to bring to the study of Hebrews 2:14-18. When Jesus took on the constraints of a body,… Continue reading The Endless Downward Pull of Temptation
Not in the curl of smoke from cozy fire; Not in the fir trees, cloaked in snowy white; Nor chickadees in formal dark attire; Not in the wintry stars' pinpricks of light; Neither in the window candles, spilling Their golden rays across the powdered ground; Nor in the crimson berries' vivid contrast To holly's green… Continue reading Christmas Eve on the Hill
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