It’s Good Friday, the day the bottom dropped out for the disciples. And once again, Holy Week is a microcosm of life. My Lenten meditations were intended to be thought provoking, inspiring, challenging, and comforting. When I read or think something that nudges me a step closer to the kind of inner life I hope […]
Lent: Holy Week whiplash
There’s a “why” to every “what.” The week we call Holy Week must have been a whiplash for the followers of Jesus. Beginning with a coronation parade, there were crowds, cheers, waving palm branches, and exuberance. All was good. They were ready to see the triumphant conclusion of the previous three years. Jesus was going […]
Lent: When things begin to unravel
Holy Week is such a microcosm of life. On Palm Sunday life was looking good for the followers of Jesus. They had come through long periods of not much happening, an occasional miracle, lots of confusion and normal life, yet always with the anticipation that something good was coming. Palm Sunday seemed to be that […]
Lent: Developing curiosity
“…we write to make sense of out of chaos. Through our stories we come to find the patterns in a random universe and from those patterns we find comfort.” I read that statement this morning as I prepared to write today’s Lenten thought. The author, Laraine Herring, was writing about the importance of curiosity. If […]
Lent: opening up
While thinking about today’s entry, I had a flashback of a conversation 40 years ago with Dr. Culbert Rutenber. What a name. “Cubbie” as he was called was a past president of the American Baptist Association and retired faculty member of Andover Newton Seminary. In his retirement he had moved to Austin, Texas. He joined […]
Lent: the church as a container
I grew up Southern Baptist where once each month, on Wednesday evening, we gathered for a church-wide “business meeting.” The meeting included a host of reports from different groups and addressed all kinds of things having to do with money, budget, personnel, ministry projects, and whatever else needed congregational input or decision. When I joined […]
Lent: the Bible as a container
Yesterday I ended with the statement of how important AND limited our “containers” are. They are important because they provide a structure of our lives and our thinking. The container is made of the rules, regulations, and ideas of our early authorities. These gave us our start and allowed us to make sense of the […]
Lent: Moving beyond dualism
While working on my dissertation, oh that was a long time ago, I did some reading of “Conceptual Systems Theory.” This was a useful theory for understanding and explaining my research at the time. To my surprise it has also been helpful since then. My overly simplistic description: the theory describes of how our thoughts, […]
Lent: the ritual is the container, not the experience
My Lenten discipline of writing something every morning has sort of crapped out. This is my first entry in two weeks. I have several good reasons, but at the bottom of my excuses lays the word “discipline.” Changes in my life, my schedule, and my attention prompted me to get away from the things I […]
Lent: Looking beyond demographics
One of the primary ways I settle for enhancing my container rather than exploring its contents is by clinging to demographics. Here’s what I mean. Demographics are the labels I use to identify myself and others. “I’m male, middle-aged, white, Christian, American, parent, spouse, psychologist, left-handed,” you get the idea. It’s mental shorthand. I don’t […]