I tend to write on faith and spiritual matters, and these five picks certainly echo that theme. In fact, that's the only thing they have in common. Five different subjects (the power of forgiveness, my take on the "end times," Advent, the anniversary of 9/11, and the Syrian refugee crisis).
I would like to thank fellow bloggers who motivated me to write a few of these pieces (Kris Vallotton, Al Andrews Addie Zierman and Stephen Jones) . They are mentioned below, with links to what they've written in the full version of each. I would also like to thank Sarah Bessey for the idea of posting a compilation of favorites!
The powerful grace of forgiveness
Today is the day after Thanksgiving and as I was scrolling around Twitter, I found that Stephen Jones tweeted out a link to a post by Al Andrews about the grace found in forgiveness.
Andrews uses two excellent examples in his writing. Both involving baseball. Both involving major mistakes that cost a team dearly.
You can read Andrews' thought-provoking post here.
It got me to thinking, what is it about our Western culture that makes it so difficult to forgive someone when they make a mistake?
It's not like we've never made one, right?
Witness Jesus' handling of the Pharisees who were about to stone a woman to death. He cut them to the quick by saying, "Let the one who has no sin toss the first stone."
The end of the world. Or not.
Kris' invitation motivated me to revisit the subject of eschatology. What follows are my own thoughts:
1. God knows the exact end time, so I don't have to.
2. There's a good reason that God took that pressure off me. There's enough to consider in everyday life without wondering when the world is going to end.
3. My relationship with God should drive how I act and respond to life, not what I happen to believe about the timeline for earth's demise.
4. If the exact date of the end of the world were so important, then God would have revealed it to us and not relied on a human being's interpretation. (There's a reason why every doom's day cult has ended very badly.)
5. We human beings can easily get side-tracked into considering things that ultimately aren't of much consequence.
To sum up, I think the point to consider isn't when will the world end, but where will we be spending eternity once our own life is over.
Isn't that what truly matters?
Advent: Slowing down on purpose
This Sunday is the beginning of Advent.
It's a season of preparation. Of expectation. Of contemplation.
Each season, I make an effort to make the weeks before Christmas meaningful. Most often, I fail.
But after reading Addie Zierman's great post with an idea for creating an Advent journal, as well as offering several books to help, I'm motivated to try again.
Here's my own thoughts on handling Advent:
1. Slow down, on purpose.
Sometimes we're encouraged to slow down. Take in easy. Smell the roses, One day at a time. Be in the moment.
I'm not discouraging any of these actions. But sometimes I think they miss the point, which is: To slow down in order to come to a sharper focus.
Being purposeful isn't the same as being aware.
9/11: When Church Moved Into the Street
Today is the anniversary of 9/11.
One of my most vivid memories has to do with a decision I made shortly after that horrible day. I decided to move back to New York and get involved with Metro Ministries (now called Metro World Child).
New York City had been my home for eight years before heading back to the Midwest. So, I wanted to do something hands-on by joining Metro Ministries, helping them in their outreach to kids.
During our internship, which began the February after 9/11, one of the first things we did was visit Ground Zero, which was still an active site. 24 hours a day relief workers were continuing to sort through the rubble, searching for the remains of those who had perished.
There were gigantic flood lights around the enormous hole that had been the World Trade Center Towers, giving it a very eerie feel. And around the iron gate of St. Paul's Church there were hundreds of memorials taped up. St. Paul's was close to Ground Zero and the Church opened its doors to relief workers.
People from all over New York came there and put up "Have You Seen?" flyers along with impromptu memorials (which ran the range from children's drawings of their missing family members to teddy bears).
It was evidence of the emotional turmoil that still bled from a gigantic spiritual wound.
Weren't we all once spiritual refugees?
Like a lot of other people, I've been following the Syrian refugee crisis.
Some countries have closed their doors. Others seem more hospitable.
A nephew of mine recently said, that in the history of immigration, it's either a "pull or push" situation. That is, something in the country of origin has gotten so intolerable that it forces a person to leave; or else another country has something so alluring that it motivates a person to come.
Either way there is a leaving of what's familiar, of what's considered normal in order to be pushed or pulled to go someplace else.
While this is happening, of course, there are all sorts of opinions being given. Politics aside, it comes down to if other countries are willing to open their doors or shut them. Most recently there have been hundreds if not thousands of voices lifted up offering opinions one way or the other.
And it got me to thinking, on it's simplest level, weren't we all once spiritual refugees?
That is, from a faith perspective, weren't we once "lost?" Weren't we strangers in a strange land? Didn't our descendants spend 40 years wandering in the desert as refugees after escaping from Egypt - ironically only a hop-and-a-skip from Syria?
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