“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land […]
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” – Ephesians 1:18-19 NIV God finds unexpected ways to get your attention, and if you are willing, your awareness Divine presence […]
I lift up my eyes to the hills – from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. – Psalm 121:1-2 NRSV Yesterday morning, our internet went out. It seems a tree fell somewhere and took the line down with it. While the temporary loss was no tragedy, it did cause some significant impact on my plans […]
Even though it is tempting, we can avoid the bait of pointless contention.
Before we consider the role of reason in spiritual discernment, I want to mention I comment I received on yesterday’s post. A concern was raised regarding God’s involvement in our experiences. Specifically, that God does not cause bad things to happen in our lives so that we will learn a lesson. This is a very important point! Rather than simply make a passing comment on […]
Swiss theologian Karl Barth once said we should do theology with a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other.” While newspapers are no longer the dominant media source, his point is still quite valid. We need our experiences to properly discern God’s will. Yes, as we already established, we need the truth of Scripture and the solid foundation of Tradition, but we understand […]
Every time I think about tradition, I cannot help but think of Tevye boldly singing, “Tradition!” in the musical Fiddler on the Roof. Throughout the performance, he is faced with challenges to his traditions as he desperately tries to hold on to them. Slowly, he begins to accept that some of those traditions need to change. It might seem that, if traditions are flexible in […]
Living the Christian life requires a constant effort to discern God’s will and to put that direction into action. Discovering God’s will for our lives, our families, our faith communities, and the world is not always easy. Situations are often complicated and the right course of action is not always clear. How do we discern God’s direction? What tools are there to help us in […]