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Category Archives: Church
“Longing, Beauty, and Community”
A couple of months ago, Airbnb released this ad emphasizing their latest offering: experiences. It’s a great ad, one that anyone who has planned international travel can appreciate. I don’t think things are as black-or-white as the ad suggests, but … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Church, Faith, Life in the Fifth Act, The Long Story, Travel
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Communion, Community, and the Soul
I’d like to spend a few posts this week reflecting on Curt Thompson’s The Soul of Desire, a book I mostly read while in Tennessee this summer. I’d like to start with a few quotes and three points of to … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Church, Faith, Life in the Fifth Act, The Long Story
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Summer Reading: The Soul of Desire (part one)
One book I was able to finish before starting my summer mainland trip was Curt Thompson’s Anatomy of the Soul. I did not intend to read his The Soul of Desire this summer, too, but it’s what I found myself … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Church, Faith, Friendship, Life in the Fifth Act
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Summer Reading: Fountain of Salvation
One of the books that I finished reading during my summer retreat was Fountain of Salvation by Fred Sanders. Unlike The Deep Things of God, Sanders’s other recent book on the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, Fountain of Salvation is … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Church, Faith, Life in the Fifth Act, Scripture
Tagged Fred Sanders, Trinity
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In the Backpack
Frederick Buechner starts The Alphabet of Grace, his theological “slice of life” book, with this wonderfully true assertion: At its heart most theology, like most fiction, is essentially autobiographical. Aquinas, Calvin, Barth, Tillich, working out their systems in their own … Continue reading
The Good Shepherd (and a quick word on 49)
This past Sunday, many churches celebrated Mother’s Day. Other churches also commemorated “Good Shepherd Sunday,” which is celebrated every fourth Sunday of Easter. The key text for the day is John 10, where Jesus says: 11 “I am the good shepherd. … Continue reading
Posted in Church, Faith, Holidays, Scripture, The Long Story
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“Where There’s a Will . . .”
We’re just over three months into the “Desert Fathers in a Year” series. So far, my favorite saying comes from the section on hesychia, which relates to the idea of deep peace. The saying comes from Abba Arsenius: Abba Mark … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Church, Faith, Friendship, Scripture, Teaching
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Good Words from Seth
Seth Godin has had a few resonant posts for me these last couple of weeks that are worth bookmarking and sharing. In this post, he talks about slowing down and speeding up. The post’s last line: Hurry, but don’t rush. … Continue reading
Posted in Church, Internet, Organizations and Institutions, Teaching
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Sentence Stems for Two Conversations
There are two kinds of sentences that one should hear at church or in relationships with other Christians. One should be primary, the foundation for everything that could follow. Unfortunately, the second one has become the actual primary sentence stem, … Continue reading
Posted in Church, Faith, Recovery Journal, The Long Story
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Institutional Enchantment (or not)
I’ve done a decent job of being in “break mode,” I think, but this recent post by Richard Beck unexpectedly took me back a few weeks to a meeting I was in. The article, for which I am grateful, is … Continue reading
Posted in Church, Faith, Organizations and Institutions
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Space Enough, and Time 