Pandemic Haiku

When one day disap- -pears into the next without signposts hope erodes.   Stop each day to cheer The heroes leaving work to Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com Rest in dreadful fears.   Nightmares rise up now Inflame the stupid hearers With disinformation.   Carrying virus Sharing death without knowing The Fall incarnate   Fear of each other Loss of all human embrace Alone together   Glued to devices Exhaustion without labor Unable to sleep.   Thrown out of routine The crisis awakens us To innovations.   Separated by the fear of death we cling to love we have within. … Continue reading Pandemic Haiku

Rachel Held Evans’ Questions

The passing of Rachel Held Evans unleashed a surprising wave of grief to some.  But to readers in the Christian world, and young women in particular, she was a voice of welcoming honesty.  In an October 2012 article in Christianity Today called, “50 Women You Should Know,” Katelyn  Beaty said of Rachel Held Evans that her blog, which began in 2007, spoke out on many traditional evangelical issues in a fresh and fearless way.  Evans, she quoted, wrote that young Christians “aren’t looking for a faith that provides all the answers.  We’re looking for one in which we are free to ask the questions.”

It was intense questioning that led her to start writing in the first place.  In 2012 alone, 1.2 million visitors went to her site to hear what she had to say.  She was speaking for many others, giving voice to many who were needing one. To a church (in the largest sense) that is always, at least institutionally, last to respond to change, she pushed to make it look at its truth and heart and reassess what it was Jesus meant us to do. Continue reading “Rachel Held Evans’ Questions”

Reality

Someone asked me for this short paragraph from my sermon yesterday. I thought I might as well share it with you all, for what it’s worth. I was focused on the 23rd chapter of Jeremiah, which speaks of the challenges of leadership and the power of the Living God to help us.  I said, toward the end, these words: “There is always hope, but it never comes without cost or pain or struggle. There is always a future, but never at the expense of our past. There is always Presence, but it is not always comforting and pleasant. There is … Continue reading Reality