I haven’t forgotten about you.  I haven’t stopped writing.  I’ve been working over-nights and taking care of my children, so my writing time has been devoted to a personal thing that I am working on.  Sorry.  But here we go…

I’ve roughed out several posts for one ongoing thought.  I think that you’ll like it.  Or maybe you’ll really hate it.  I pray that you’ll have some strong reaction.  Beginning this Friday I will resume my Tuesday/Friday blogging regimen.  <Everyone cheers!>

Below is a sampling of my forthcoming thoughts, though I have withheld the word that ties them all together.  Consider it a teaser; my gift to you.  We’ll see you on Friday…

No one ever talks about it because it’s just not popular; and it gives the impression of a kind of resignation, unacceptable to the people grasping for control, those who are earning their way in and proving their value.  Should you embrace it like wine before bedtime; you best keep it to yourself.  Because if you find it, if it finds you; many will not understand.  It’s hard to fit in when you’ve learned to stop seizing upon the opinions of others.  You still care, but with a palm instead of a fist. … wait there is more. click to continue reading

On Thursday, Kendra was placed on a heart transplant list.  Last night at approximately 9 PM, her transplant surgery began!  It is a bitter-sweet answer to prayer when life is passed on to one family from another.  I am rejoicing for Kendra and her family, while I am gripped by a certain heaviness for the family that gave a hallowed gift.

Please continue to pray for her body to adjust and heal.

You know, I’ve been thinking a lot about prayer.  Specifically how, being raised Pentecostal, I’ve been taught to believe in miracles and in things like healing.  What is it that makes a person continue to pray?  Read the rest of this entry »

art credit: caroline levis www.levisart.com, click image to veiw portfolio

According to rabbinic tradition and Acts 7, Moses tended sheep in the wilderness for forty years.  His first forty years were spent in a king’s palace.  His final forty years were spent leading a liberated, yet still grumpy people toward the Promised Land.  It’s the middle forty, the desert years, that seem pointless.  He got married, had some kids, and inhaled the smoke of a burning paote bush that led him to believe I AM WHO I AM was telling him to lead his people out of Egypt.  Forty years is a long time to listen to  sheep.  It is a long time to believe the words of a flaming bush.

What’s more is that God tells him the job he is preparing him to do will fail.  Exodus 4 paraphrased says, “You’re going to do all these miraculous things, but I’m going to harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he won’t listen to you.  It’s not going to work.  It’s not you; it’s me.”  Encouragement like that probably made the octogenarian long to hear the bleating of sheep.  Read the rest of this entry »

There has been much ado about a recent issue of Newsweek which pronounced the decline of American Christianity.  Conservative Christian media outlets and bloggers have taken to chastising editor Jon Meacham, dismissing the Episcopalian’s editorial treatment of a study by the American Religious Identification Survey, which cited a 10 percent drop in Americans who claim to be Christians.  Rather than damning Mr. Meacham to that old Christian woodshed somewhere below the earth’s crust, why not consider the subject of the study?  Though lopping off the ear of the messenger is temporarily enjoyable it is rarely fruitful.  If a man has one hundred sheep and ten of them go missing, the good shepherd asks why.

Now I’d rather crank up my iPod listening to a band that sounds like Modest Mouse with positive lyrics and pretend that someone just found the LORD through a Christian t-shirt I was wearing.  Avoidance is a helpful tool.  please continue reading

Let’s not forget that Holy Week – from the passion, to the death, to the glorious resurrection – is what we’re all about. The twin mysteries of the incarnation and the pasch define the transcending meaning of Christianity. We’re so used to this message that it is easy for us to forget just how incredibly radical this idea is.

The Holy Cross itself is a sign of contradiction. A horrible means continue reading

It’s Thursday.  Maundy Thursday.  Maundy is from a Latin word meaning “mandate.”  Something about the celebration of this particular day is mandatory.

The footwashing.  what else is mandatory?

Last week at RoP we focused on the idea that we are more than what we produce.  This week we’ll be exploring an idea that is woven together with production: we are more than what we consume.  According to the New York Times the average city dweller (and by that the Times is referring to NYC) is exposed to around 5,000 ads a day.  Most of us who live outside of NYC are exposed to just over 3,000 per diem.  Think that’s bad?  Studies estimate that we’ll spend 3 years of our lives on this planet watching TV ads.  (Read this post for a great perspective)

3 years is a long time.  Thank heavens for Tivo, right?  What if we defined ourselves according to what we’ve managed to be sold?

More later…