True Contentment
I am preaching in a few weeks from the book of Philippians on contentment. My passage is Phil. 4 and the familiar words of Paul, "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances…" (Phil. 4:12). So I’ve been thinking about that a lot. One thing for sure, I won’t have enough time to preach ...
Grace in Weakness
“And so His people are still taught to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. When He strengthens them, it is not by taking away the sense of feebleness, and giving in its place the feeling of strength. By no means. But in a very wonderful way leaving and even ...
Deeply Loved of God
Lent, for all of its journey into self-awareness, repentance, and prayer should really lead to one thing…falling into the arms of the One who calls us “Beloved.” This is not a journey to shore up our mastery of the disciplines or fine tune Biblical techniques. It is a journey of falling deeper in love with ...
A Missional Mindset
In thinking about the mission of God, we most often ask ourselves the question, “I wonder what kind of mission God has for me. I think a more missional mindset would ask this question instead, “What kind of ME does God want for HIS mission.” This perspective on how we live our lives changes everything, ...
Clearings
One of the not-often recognized benefits of the spiritual disciplines is that they create space in our lives for God to do what only he can do. We cannot force ourselves to grow spiritually but the disciplines create a “clearing” (more needed than we realize) whereby we am able to pay attention and respond to the activity of God in ...
A Prayer For Lent
"How often have I lived through these weeks without paying much attention to fasting and prayer? How often have I missed the spiritual fruits of the season without even being aware of it? But how can I ever really celebrate Easter without observing Lent? How can I rejoice fully in your Resurrection when I have ...
The Point of Lent
So I’ve made my decision on what I am “giving up” for Lent. After several weeks of self examination, I’ve identified (with the Holy Spirit’s help) that thing which has attached itself, unknowingly and without invitation, to my life. While it may not be a specific sin, it is a pattern that is not congruent ...
The Art of Being Lost
“They needed 40 years in the wilderness to learn the ‘holy art of being lost’.” Barbara Brown Taylor "Obviously she is talking about the Israelites. 40 years. Slow learners? It might be easy for us to say yes to that question but really – aren’t we all slow learners when it comes to the ‘holy ...
I Love the Church
(This is a blog post from a fellow student, Robert Rife, at SAU who graduates this May.) "I love the Church. But it makes me sad as well. I believe that we have abdicated our role as “God’s skin in the world” (see “The Holy Longing” by Ronald Rolheiser). Our mad dash toward relevance has squeezed ...
Entering into Lent
This Wednesday is the beginning of the Church’s observance of the Lenten season. I was raised in a home that had no religious underpinnings and in our own church tradition we have not routinely embraced observance of the Church calendar. What I am saying is…observing Lent is new to me. One thing, however, that becomes ...
Gail Johnsen 