“My belief that God is love — that love is everything, our true destiny — sustains me. I affirm these beliefs through daily meditation and prayer, through contemplation and service, through worship and loving kindness.” — bell hooks, All About Love
Category Archives: Spiritual Formation
Constant rhythms in my life
“Without grace, the Christian liturgy is hollow, and fruitful participation in it is impossible. The liturgy, like everything good in life, is an instance of grace.” — Patrick Malloy, Celebrating the Eucharist
No surprises for God
I am beginning a brand new book out called Shaky Ground: What to Do After the Bottom Drops Out by Traci Rhoades. It is an invitation to learn from the broader Church and its history rather than one narrow slice of what we have experienced in our lives.
Four deep questions in my life
I was reminded of four deep questions that draw me to life in the Kingdom of God: What is real?
I do not live for the “win”
8 Finally, all of you be of one mind, sympathetic, lovers of your fellow believers, compassionate, and modest in your opinion of yourselves. 9 Don’t pay back evil for evil or insult for insult. Instead, give blessing in return. You were called to do this so that you might inherit a blessing. (1 Pe 3:8–9, CEB) IContinue reading “I do not live for the “win””
I am on a temporary visa
1 Peter 2:11–12 (CEB)11 Dear friends, since you are immigrants and strangers in the world, I urge that you avoid worldly desires that wage war against your lives. 12 Live honorably among the unbelievers. Today, they defame you, as if you were doing evil. But in the day when God visits to judge they will glorify him,Continue reading “I am on a temporary visa”
I didn’t understand deception
This passage meant something entirely different for me when I was in my 20s that today: 2 Timothy 4:3–4 (NLT)3 For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears wantContinue reading “I didn’t understand deception”
The culture of heaven
My reading from my “ancient wells” list has me in Colossians 3 currently. I am thinking of the culture of heaven. I am dwelling on the character of the Kingdom. There are some thoughts dwelling in this passage in light of the decision from the Supreme Court yesterday to overturn Roe vs. Wade.
Being trained
Ephesians 4:20–21 (NIV): That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. How have I “learned” Christ? We don’t just “fall” into discipleship or formation. Everyone it gets an education. The question is what kind?Continue reading “Being trained”
Do I TRULY believe the Gospel?
2 Corinthians 5:16–17 (NIV)16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! This is Paul’s appeal:
Apprentice 2 Jesus 