The Lenten season begins with Ash Wednesday, a day in the church year when we are called to repentance. In the Book of Common Prayer a portion of the minister’s reading is as follows: I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; […]
When I lived in Africa I loved to fix broken things, to build with my hands. The long equatorial days were filled with unanswerable questions: numbing poverty, spiritual vacuums, legacies of suffering, problems that demanded addressing yet rejected easy answers or clear-cut solutions. And in the shadow of my inability to fix broken people and […]
It was Socrates who supposedly said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” The season of Lent is characterized by, in the words of the Book of Common Prayer, “Self-examination.” But what does that mean for us as followers of Christ? How do we practice self-examination in a uniquely “Christian” manner? Self-Examination Leads to Freedom […]
The Thankful We cancelled training and invited the women to a potluck meal. Everyone pitches in: chicken masala and roti, spicy potatoes and haka noodles. That afternoon as the mountain of food on the kitchen table grows, the excitement and chatter grows with it. “Ok,” says Gabe. “Today, first we will eat, and then after we have […]
The time for the meeting came and went. The staff made small talk, watched the clock, and eventually, they left. They were waiting on me. I had double booked and missed an important meeting. What would I say to the staff? I wanted to say that my son kept me up the whole night before. […]
I recently spent a week with seven people preparing to begin service as Serge missionaries. Some would view them as giants. Some view them as dedicated beyond usual. Maybe they are even made of stone, towering above the rest of us—simply not fazed by normal challenges of life. What I saw was vulnerability. Vulnerability that […]
Even in the newness, the hope, and the opportunity each day brings, the past remains. They’d like to forget it, wish the past out of existence. But it’s there in the faint black and blue shadow that appears one day around Halma’s eye. It’s there in the desperate looks and the faraway stares that creep […]
“Copy these articles and get them to the client by the end of the week.” says your supervisor. But you both know that the articles were copyrighted by a direct competitor. To copy them would be wrong (they aren’t your company’s intellectual property), but to quit your job over a foolish demand feels wrong, too. […]
On the second floor of a brightly painted apartment building in the City, seven women shuffle up the stairs and shed their sandals in a scattered row outside a carved wooden door, entering the flat in a subdued flurry of nervousness and excitement. By 8:00 a.m. they’ve arranged themselves on the sofa and chairs in […]
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” -Matthew 9:2 To the paralyzed man, why doesn’t Jesus say first, “Take up your mat and walk”? It’s because forgiveness of sins is the biggest thing that Jesus ever does for anyone. Jesus does see […]
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