Words like “spirit”, “energy”, “intention”, “living water”–all these are rolling around in my head this morning. Can you tell I’ve been prepping for a series of sermons on the Holy Spirit? Who can tell all that goes into the creation of a mood, or a way of being on a particular day? Is it all [...]
I have no idea why I wrote that title just now, except that I’ve been studying scripture this morning, bemoaning my lack of knowledge and training. There is of course plain meaning in words, but there is also the shimmered layering that floats over centuries and translation. The appearance of a word in [...]
I talked with some beautiful people last week.
The Northwest Church has a history of doing special events on MLK Sunday, having long been interested in racial reconciliation. This year, I invited five panelists (two black men, two black women, and one white woman) to participate in a half-hour conversation about the current status of [...]
This sounds static, suggesting at first glance symmetry, a stolid arrangement of properties that 50’s housewives might call beautiful, but to the eyes and hearts of the postmodern…boring. For the wilder romantic, order means predictability means oppression (in the realm of experience). To be alive means to meet the chaotic mix of [...]
When it comes to perception, we start with the senses. We are a visual culture, and in casual usage, the word “beauty” is most often associated with what we see. Beauty that strikes us visually usually involves a pleasing or satisfying “form,” some relationship between various aesthetic properties that we [...]
What is “beauty’s” primary referent? What exists that gives us the notion of beauty? Where does the very idea begin? How important is beauty? What is its nature and meaning? How do we account for its pervasive presence in experience? How does life change with the waxing and waning [...]
Got home Saturday night and rose early Sunday morning to finalize preparation for the morning sermon. The story of Simeon reminded me of the constant tension between the idealism of salvation’s arrival and the realism of the suffering Jesus’ coming would mean. I preached that Simeon was a man of truth, saying what [...]
Great class yesterday. These people are smart, interested, and vocal. They understood what makes a poem, what the implications are of the questions surrounding the use of sexuality in media, and they seem more than willing to engage the culture on its own terms. When asked about their experiences of beauty, the examples came back [...]
Years click off faster than they used to. Amy and Daniel were small just yesterday, but now they’re grown (practically). So many events once to be looked forward to are now slipping by one by one, complete. There’s lots more adventure ahead, but there isn’t a day goes by without my head reeling with it [...]
A magic word, vision. A glimpse of some future reality that might come to pass. A quick flash of insight that compels us to push forward with new energy and new hope. A slight intuition that speaks of more life pouring in, more friends gathered for the journey, more people lifted from [...]
 | Marshall on Seeing Up Close |
 | C.P. on Sunday Birthday |
 | Jeffrey Overstreet on Seeing Up Close |
 | Rob Meyer on Sunday Birthday |
 | Marty on Sunday Birthday |
