Pilgrim March
Thoughts on Life as a Spiritual Journey
Shame on You!
Has anyone ever said that to you? Has anyone ever seen the way you behaved and said, “Shame on you?” This phrase implies there is something wrong with you just because you made a mistake or did something wrong. By saying shame on you, the message you hear is you are a worse person because [...]
Posted in Book Reviews, Relationality, Theology | 1 Comment
Hate, on film and in community
A new movie documentary, The Anatomy of Hate, is coming out that explores the origins and reasons for hate. The film documents hate in the lives of people from white supremacists in the south, Christians who define themselves as anti-gay, to the Arab-Israeli conflict. It looks fascinating. As a pastor who believes deeply in community, [...]
Posted in Ethics, Relationality | 2 Comments
A Fatherless Generation
I continue to slowly re-read Nouwen’s Wounded Healer. This is one of the best books on Christian leadership I have ever read. It feels like Nouwen is peering into the window of my soul as he writes and perfectly describing the human condition as I experience it. In the second chapter, he attempts to characterize [...]
Posted in Culture, Ministry | No Comments
A Parable on Technology
An Indian Tale quoted in Nouwen’s Wounded Healer: Four royal sons were questioning what specialty they should master. They said to one another, “Let us search the earth and learn a special science.” So they decided, and after they had agreed on a place where they would meet again, the four brothers started off, each [...]
Posted in Christian Living | No Comments
Just Fasting
On the heals of the Affluenza posts, I read this scripture this morning: Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a [...]
Posted in Just Fasting | 3 Comments
Affluenza: Shopping and Spending
Some sobering stories and stats about consumerism in America (all quotes from the book Affluenza): “We spend more on shoes, jewelry, and watches ($100 billion) than on higher education ($99 billion).” pg. 13 “nearly 30 percent of Americans buy Christmas presents for their pets; 11 percent buy them for their neighbors.” (pg. 13) “In 1986, [...]
Posted in Consumerism, Culture | 1 Comment
Affluenza
This is an excellently researched and thought-provoking book that looks at America’s capitalistic, consumerist society as sickness not salvation. The authors cite story and statistic ad nauseam to make their point — our excessive consumption of every sort of good is not filling the void in our hearts or satisfying the hunger in our soul. [...]
Posted in Culture | No Comments
