All There: How Attentiveness Shapes Authentic Leadership is written for ministry leaders…but whatever your context you will still discover it means to stay attentive to God’s invitations into a life not of our own making but into wholeness and the festivities of God’s kingdom purposes.
According to the traditional church calendar, today is known as Epiphany. Epiphany marks the end of the Christmas season. I love Epiphany. Epiphany comes on the heels of the New Year and offers the same invitations to something new. Epiphany ...
Yesterday I chatted with a lady new to our church. She commented that when she was on the leadership team at her previous church, it was difficult to continually “stay strong,” to always “have it all together,” and to always ...
A man recently went into a bookstore and asked the manager what most popular books are these days. The most popular he said were books about how to get rich in the new information economy. No big surprise. The second ...
Always, We Begin Again I love this wonderful and poignant phrase that comes from the writings of 6th-century monk, St. Benedict. Especially at the start of a new year, we are reminded that we are presented with countless opportunities for new beginnings. Losing weight, getting out of debt, exercising, reading more books, learning something new, ...
All There: How Attentiveness Shapes Authentic Leadership is written for ministry leaders…but whatever your context you will still discover it means to stay attentive to God’s invitations into a life not of our own making but into wholeness and the festivities of God’s kingdom purposes.
It was a perfect display of our lives; pieced together, repurposed, a bit chaotic, unfinished, ill-shaped, wonderfully imperfect, and lovingly created.
Advent 2020 begins Sunday, November29. As we come to the end of 2020, Advent Reflections: Let the Weary World Rejoice! can be a much-needed resource for those who are weary entering this holiday season.
A few years ago I heard a surprising definition of the word, “circumstances”. Circumstances means “standing around”. Hmmmm. Interesting. The more I thought about it, the more I understood its meaning. Circumstances are those things that are standing so close to us they block our view of God. They crowd in until all you can ...
No doubt our lives are on edge. Just look at the empty grocery shelves. Managers at Costco have to separate people fighting over water. Unwanted, and especially unexpected, change grabs the accompanying fear of the unknown. We panic. We become paralyzed. We tuck in. We grab whatever makes us feel safe and secure. There are ...
Lent has been equated with the spiritual geography of the wilderness. This is where Jesus was driven by the Spirit after his baptism in the Jordan River. The 40 days of Lent originate from the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness. No one likes the wilderness. With no familiar markers to guide us, we ...
According to the traditional church calendar, today is known as Epiphany. Epiphany marks the end of the Christmas season. I love Epiphany. Epiphany comes on the heels of the New Year and offers the same invitations to something new. Epiphany celebrates the pilgrimage of the Wise Men to seek, and subsequently find, the Christ child. ...
We are just a little ways into Lent. I am surprised how quickly my resolve to live differently dissolves into my old and familiar patterns of living. Humph. I thought I was stronger, more capable than that. This is what makes Lent so valuable. Lent is a time of looking honestly at our lives; a ...
Today Lent begins. Lent is my favorite season! Said. No one. Ever. But I caught myself at least considering it today. Lent gets a bad rap. Deprivation, somber, renunciation (okay, no one uses that word)…but these are probably come to mind when you think of Lent. Who signs up for that? Lent, however, is a ...
Gail Johnsen 