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Meditations on the Mysteries: May 2012
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Meditations on the Mysteries. Monday, May 28, 2012. One of the many things I love about the community in which I live is that it does Memorial Day well. Below are the invocation and benediction I gave today for the brief service honoring those who have died in service to our nation. I welcome your comments. Almighty God, we give you thanks for our nation, the United States of America. Continue to shape us into a people who work for liberty and justice for all people. May the blessing of Almighty God, the...
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Meditations on the Mysteries: April 2011
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Meditations on the Mysteries. Thursday, April 21, 2011. My friend Phillip has written a reflection for Maundy Thursday. You can read it here. Links to this post. Tuesday, April 12, 2011. A wise professor of mine once observed that, if the discussion leader is not careful, most Bible studies and adult Sunday school class devolve into hemming and hawing about "kids these days.". I think he is exactly right. Log out of our own eye first. then the speck of sawdust out of our neighbor's, as it were. What if t...
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Meditations on the Mysteries: January 2012
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Meditations on the Mysteries. Monday, January 16, 2012. Each year, I choose a new devotional book to work through. Last year I enjoyed Henri Nouwen's Bread for the Journey. And By Way of the Desert. With daily excerpts from the Desert Fathers. I highly recommend both. This year I discovered Eugene Peterson's The Message / Remix / Solo: An Uncommon Devotional. Also available at NavPress. This devotional book contains an excerpt from Peterson's wonderfully-popular Bible translation, The Message. While we'r...
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Meditations on the Mysteries: August 2011
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Meditations on the Mysteries. Thursday, August 25, 2011. I hate to wait. So when I begin a newsletter column on prayer as waiting, it is not a topic I am fond of. At the same time, I am struggling to become a more patient person and am convinced that this begins with prayer. So what exactly do I mean by prayer as waiting? In the Gospel of Luke,* we find two times of waiting that invite us to consider how prayer can be a time of active waiting. The first time of waiting is waiting for. God It is captured ...
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Meditations on the Mysteries: May 2011
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Meditations on the Mysteries. Wednesday, May 25, 2011. Below is a sample of some of the blogs I follow. It is my hope that this representative sample will encourage you to read the work of others whom I have found inspiring and insightful. I have intentionally chosen to use article summaries instead of blog titles.). Considering a media fast this summer? Interested in a comprehensive treatment of eternity that goes beyond Love Wins. Some reflections on why leaders must guard their heart. Prayer on the Go.
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Meditations on the Mysteries: 1000 Nos
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Meditations on the Mysteries. Friday, August 24, 2012. Sometimes you have to say "No" to 1,000 things to say "Yes" to the one thing that matters. Three summers ago, my wife and I took Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. It is now a nine-week course that helps people focus on getting out of debt, building wealth and giving generously. (We are offering it this fall. Through our congregation if you are interested.) The explicit strength of this program is the debt snowball. One of Rob Bell's Nooma.
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Meditations on the Mysteries: January 2011
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Meditations on the Mysteries. Wednesday, January 19, 2011. When is the Sermon Done? When is the sermon done? This is a question preachers struggle with quite frequently- not only in crafting the sermon, but in delivering it. When is the sermon done? This is a question jokingly posed by hearers quite regularly- as if the proclamation of the Gospel is something simply to endure. When is the sermon done? Links to this post. Tuesday, January 18, 2011. Day, in roughly the order I move through them. Each day t...
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Meditations on the Mysteries: February 2011
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Meditations on the Mysteries. Saturday, February 12, 2011. The Pastor as Turtle. The other day I was thinking about the importance of a pastor having waxy skin, so that criticism, the attacks of the evil one and the "tyranny of the urgent" can simply roll off, like beads of rainwater on a waterproof jacket. The more I thought about it, however, the image of a turtle surfaced. 1 A pastor needs a tough shell. 2 A pastor needs soft skin too. 3 A pastor needs to move slowly. So too, pastors can move quickly ...
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Meditations on the Mysteries: August 2012
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Meditations on the Mysteries. Friday, August 24, 2012. Sometimes you have to say "No" to 1,000 things to say "Yes" to the one thing that matters. Three summers ago, my wife and I took Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. It is now a nine-week course that helps people focus on getting out of debt, building wealth and giving generously. (We are offering it this fall. Through our congregation if you are interested.) The explicit strength of this program is the debt snowball. One of Rob Bell's Nooma.
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