It could be that my location in Minnesota – and, actually, this weekend even further north in Minot, North Dakota! – that makes this poem so appealing to me. Those from warmer climes, I suspect, may wonder at its somewhat dour tone. Summer’s end, some may protest, is not occasion for...
Mark 10:45
posted by DJL
“For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” I thought we should tarry on the final verse of this scene for a moment because it has occasioned so much speculation about the cross. Associating it with the cross makes total sense. Jesus is,...
St. Francis and The Work of the People
posted by DJL
On this beautiful late summer Friday (at least where I’m writing from ☺), I want to try to bring together two of my great interests: prayer, which I don’t understand but practice anyway; and video, which I think is an incredibly powerful medium for conveying the faith in an experiential, and not just cognitive, way. To do that – or at least to give a taste of doing that – I’m going to turn to a project exercised by a group of artists I greatly admire called The Work of the People. They’ve created a rather simple video based on the powerful prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. I’ll print the words below; they also...
Mark 10:35-45
posted by DJL
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in...
Petit Fours on 9/11
posted by DJL
I haven’t written about 9/11 this week. I’d thought about finding an appropriate prayer or something like that to mark the day, but didn’t. I think that’s for two reasons. First, so much is out there you wonder what you can contribute amid the flood of material. Second, I still...
Mark 10:32-34
posted by DJL
They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be...
Abundance Is Our Future
posted by DJL
Have you ever wondered why most news headlines are dire? Or why almost all news shows lead with tragedies? Or why so much of our idle conversation turns toward the difficult and dour rather than the hopeful and happy? I know I have, and I learned why in the following TedTalk by tech guru Peter Diamandis. We are by nature, he argues, programmed to pay attention to threats. While this made evolutionary sense at an earlier point in history when our species was beset by dangers, today it can cloud our view of the world so that we miss the incredible abundance and potential that surrounds us. Diamandis founded and now runs the X Prize, which...
Mark 10:17-31
posted by DJL
As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not...
Welcome to Church
posted by DJL
I’m increasingly interested in how we welcome folks to our congregations. In a world where “church” is no longer a given, where the Christian faith gets less and less of a hearing, and where fewer people grew up in a faith tradition, we need to think hard about what we’re saying, both...
Mark 10:17-31
posted by DJL
Mark 10:17-31 As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You...
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