blip : Beyond Lost Intellectual Ponderings :

For the college group I lead we’re reading in Ecclesiastes for the next few months.  Last week we talked about how such a skeptical, some would say heretical, book made it into the canon.  The dominant interpretation of Ecclesiastes is that it is framed by a narrator who brackets the beginning and end of the [...]

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As is usually the case, the driving ideas for my last sermon didn’t come from my own head. That almost never happens. I got my stuff from Karl Barth’s wonderful little book on prayer: Prayer. Here are a few of the quotes that proved helpful for my sermon:
Prayer is a grace, an offer of God. [...]

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The good people over at The Mennonite printed a short Advent meditation I wrote on Mary. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
Mary shows us how to extend hospitality to God, which is simply what it means to be a disciple. She made room for God’s life within her own. She opened her life, her very [...]

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The Mennonite recently printed a short piece I wrote about church. There’s nothing original about it. I basically rip off a couple lines from an article my friend Peter Dula wrote. His article is much better. You can read what I wrote here: Fugitive Church.
Our communion in Christ’s Spirit is not a possession, something we [...]

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Title: Jacob’s struggle with God
Date: August 3, 2008st 3, 2008English: Contemporary English Version (1999) – CEVWP-Bible plugin
Texts: Gen 32:22-31Gen 32:22-31English: Contemporary English Version (1999) – CEVJacob’s Name Is Changed to Israel

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I wrote a little piece on my friends for the Mennonite. I called it “Re-membering Communion.” But the editors like to change things around. Here it is: Are memories our communion?

Here’s a piece of it if you want to get a sense of it:
In worship we open our arms to receive the intimacy of God’s [...]

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I’ve started writing short pieces for The Mennonite magazine. My first piece appeared in the April 1st issue: “Blessed are those who mourn.” Here’s an excerpt:
Mourning is worship. Sometimes we worship with our tears. To worship any differently would be dishonest and deny what Paul affirms: We preach Christ crucified (1 Cor 1:231 Cor 1:23English: Contemporary English Version (1999) [...]

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This prayer, by St. Francis, is one of my favorites because it gives such a vivid, full picture of God. I also like how he holds together several paradoxes (i.e. God is wisdom and humility, joy and justice, etc.).

You are strong.
You are great.
You [...]

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I had a couple of other prayers in mind for today, but then I came across this one this morning and it seemed especially fitting for today, Martin Luther King Jr. day. I’ve thought about racism from the perspective of Ephesians 2:14-16Ephesians 2:14-16English: Contemporary English Version (1999) – CEV14 Christ has made peace between Jews and [...]

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I wrote a benediction for the Fourth Sunday of Advent. Please feel free to use it, adjust it, or tell me why it’s wrong.
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As the apostle Paul says in Philippians, “The Lord is near” (4:5). We are witnesses of the dawning of that great light come into the world—Immanuel, God with us. May we depart [...]

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