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Building character
There are some practices we can install into our lives that build deep character. It’s beyond the quick dopamine hits we get from short videos or quick hits on social media. This is the deeper work we need to rebuild in our lives. A few years ago, a University of Pennsylvania psychologist, Angela Duckworth, got a bit more specific. She…
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Thoughts on stupidity
I am reading through Letters and Papers from Prison (Bonhoeffer) from the Fortress Press series. This volume opens with a prologue, which seems to be some reflections from Bonhoeffer around 1942. It’s been about 10 years since Hitler has hit the scene and Bonhoeffer is reflecting on key areas that have been influential in that decade. Stupidity is an area
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Living in Chaos — The path of simplicity
The past few months have been spent digging a little more into the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Lately that has been looking to untangle the complicated life he led so I’ve opened up some books looking at other people trying to track Bonhoeffer’s theological process. And I’m in deep weeds.
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Quiet, prophetic words
There are moments. They seem like accidents. At the time, they may seem obvious, but get just past that moment and not note it, there is sometimes regret at missing the opportunity to pay a little more attention.
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Three activities I need to help me flourish
I have undoubtedly posted this before, but I sure need this reminder I found in a journal I am about to close out. It’s from Eugene Peterson’s book, Reversed Thunder, and speaks to how we can live in the political chaos of our time. Engage in worship Listen to the proclaimed Word Practice holy living These are needed reminders as…
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The way of revolution
The Second Sunday of Advent was about John the Baptist (as will be the Third Sunday) and I had jotted some notes down about the way of repentance. The way of John the Baptist comes at a critical time in the life of Israel. Rome has been in power and now they’ve encroached on the land with a heavy hand.…
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Bonhoeffer, nationalism, and the Kingdom of God
Some thoughts from my reading of Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Charles Marsh. There had been some Americans who had tried to get Bonhoeffer out of Germany before it was too late for him personally. They arranged for him to come to New York again and teach at Union Seminary.
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Bonhoeffer’s powerful question
Bonhoeffer asked this significant question in the early 1930s. It is one I constantly ask in my decades of following Christ as well:
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The love of something more
“I love being an American. I love this place in which I have been placed — its language, its history, its energy. But I don’t love ‘the American way,’ its culture and values. I don’t love the rampant consumerism that treats God as a product to be marketed. I don’t love the dehumanizing ways that turn men, women, and children…
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Serious heartbreak
The past 9-10 years have opened up so much spiritually for me. The hardest has been spiritual disappointment, which has led to more determination from me to go deeper with God and walk away from a lot of “form without the power.” Still… the heartbreak is there. This week’s OT passage from Isaiah captures this powerfully. It is difficult to…
Tag: Culture
