How do you and I imagine God? I realize that God exceeds our capacities for imagination, but most of us live with some mental image of the Divine. It’s almost necessary. For example, when I pray, I can’t speak with any intimacy to something that is formless, shapeless, and total mystery.
The Sound of Silence
April 6, 2022 by
Silence. We experience it so infrequently, most of us wouldn’t even recognize it. We wake to loud alarms, the drip of brewing coffee, running water as we prepare for our day.
In Silence
January 2, 2019 by
That Matthew includes five women on his list is remarkable. Jewish genealogies usually list men only, but Matthew mentions Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Mary by name. He doesn’t name the fifth woman, Bathsheba. He references her using her first husband’s name, the wife of Uriah (v. 6).
A Silent Treatment
December 12, 2018 by
This post is not a call to punish anyone, to withhold communication for the purpose of driving home the message. No one messed up. No one needs to come to their senses and apologize. I am not asking you to take my side and refuse to speak to him or her. I won’t ask you to swear to a code of silence.
Formations 07.09.2017: Ezekiel’s Silence
July 2, 2017 by
John Cage’s three movement composition “4’ 33”” begins the moment the pianist sits down and closes the lid. After three sections, each one adding up to four minutes and thirty-three seconds, the performance is over. No notes are played, but to say that no music is up to debate.
Praying When You Cannot Find the Words
March 7, 2017 by
“Prayer is a conversation, a ‘little talk with Jesus.’ Anyone can pray and everyone should pray.” While no relationship can survive without communication, we talk about prayer as if it is always simple and easy. We suggest that anyone can do it and at any time.
Formations 02.19.2017: Tension and Resolution
February 12, 2017 by
In the first few months of my freshman year, the university orchestra played a concert at the opera house downtown. I went and somewhere between Brazilian samba, Argentinian tango, and Aaron Copeland, they played Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings.”
Formations 07.24.2016: And Again
July 17, 2016 by
Jephthah speaks when he shouldn’t and doesn’t when he should. For getting these backwards, he kills his only daughter. It all begins after God’s spirit comes to Jephthah.
Youth Workers Living with Life’s Pressures
February 4, 2015 by
How do you view the stresses you experience as a youth worker? Do you cry when you hear the words “ski trip”? Do your youth ask if you had any fun when you were young?