“You are going to feel like hell if you never write the stuff that is tugging on the sleeves of your heart — your stories, visions, memories, visions and songs. Your truth, your version of things, your own voice. That is really all you have to offer us. And that’s also why you were born.”
Anne Lamott
“You are going to feel like hell if you never write the stuff that is tugging on the sleeves of your heart — your stories, visions, memories, visions and songs. Your truth, your version of things, your own voice. That is really all you have to offer us. And that’s also why you were born.”
Anne Lamott
If we only change because our circumstances change, then who is our God? Matt Redmond
Rebecca Manley Pippert writes, “Our problem in evangelism is not that we don’t have enough information—it is that we don’t know how to be ourselves. We forget we are called to be witnesses to what we have seen and know, not to what we don’t know. The key on our part is authenticity and obedience, not a doctorate in theology.”
I need to know another person’s story so well that I can identify all the ways I see God at work in their lives, even without them noticing. Michael Frost
Good News The message of “Good News” is this: You are loved. You are unique. You are free. You are on the way. You are going somewhere. Your life has meaning. That is all grounded in the experience and the knowledge and the reality of the unconditional love of God. This is what we mean by being “saved.” Richard Rohr
Truthiness in October 2005, Stephen Colbert defined “truthiness.” What matters, he argued in a hilarious imitation of a hard-charging right-wing television pundit, isn’t whether some statement about the world is true; it’s whether it feels true.
Cognitive Dissonance We don’t like to live in the tension between thought and action, or between contradictory thoughts. There’s even evidence that cognitive dissonance can sometimes be so profound that it creates physical discomfort. So we deal with the tension. We can change the thought to match the behavior. We can change the behavior to match the thought. We can add thoughts or rationalizations to resolve the tension. Or, we can simply trivialize the tension and decide that it’s so insignificant that it doesn’t really matter.
Knowledge …there is a difference between knowledge “on ice” and knowledge “on fire.” For many Christians, their belief is often just knowledge “on ice,” not experiential, firsthand knowledge, which is knowledge “on fire.” Even though we call them both faith, there is a difference between intellectual belief and real trust. There is a difference between talking about transformation and God’s love and stepping out in confidence to live a loving life. Only the second is biblical faith: when our walk matches our talk. Richard Rohr
Guilt & Shame The language of guilt isolates responsibility for a single event; the language of shame assumes that you are now that event waiting to be visited upon all. Guilt suggests punishment or restitution; shame declares that no matter what you might do, you will always be that person. Fr Stephen Freeman
View from the front porch The most universal expression of all is a smile, which is rather a nice thought. No society has ever been found that doesn’t respond to smiles in the same way. True smiles are brief—between two-thirds of a second and four seconds. That’s why a held smile begins to look menacing. A true smile is the one expression that we cannot fake. The Body – Bill Bryson
I have a small grain of hope– one small crystal that gleams clear colours out of transparency. I need more. I break off a fragment to send to you Please take this grain of a grain of hope so that mine won’t shrink. Please share your fragment so that yours will grow. Only so, by division, will hope increase, like a clump of irises, which will cease to flower unless you distribute the clustered roots, unlikely source– clumsy and earth-covered– of grace.
Fake News Fake news is hardly anything new. Back in the 18th and 19th century, people would anonymously publish newspapers and pamphlets spreading horrible rumors about their political opponents. In the 1790s, one newspaper, secretly financed by Thomas Jefferson, wrote slanderous op-eds claiming that George Washington was going to declare himself king of the new republic. During the Civil War, southern newspapers claimed that Abraham Lincoln was not only going to abolish slavery, but force whites and blacks to intermarry. Mark Manson
We almost never think of the present, and if we do think of it, it is only to see what light it throws on our plans for the future. The present is never our end. The past and the present our our means, and the future alone our end. Thus we never actually live, but hope to live, and since we are always planning how to be happy, it is inevitable that we should never be so. Pascal’s Pensées
Biblical Worldview The findings were published in the report Perceptions about Biblical Worldview and Its Application. Now around two-thirds of Americans identify as Christians, and the study found that 51% of American adults claim to have a Biblical worldview. But then those supposed Bible believers were asked specific questions. The study found that a minority of those Christians who thought they did have a Biblical worldview actually held to teachings the researchers considered to be benchmarks of a Biblical worldview. Only 9% got all of the answers right. From the study: [Only] 26% believe the personal accumulation of money and other forms of wealth have been entrusted to them by God to manage for His purposes [Only] 29% believe that the best indicator of success in life is consistent obedience to God [Only] 33% believe that human beings are born with a sinful nature and can only be saved from the consequences of sin by Jesus Christ [Only] 47% believe that when they die they will go to Heaven only because they have confessed their sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as their savior [Only] 48% believe that it is very important for their religious faith to influence every dimension of life [Only] 49% say that their most likely source of moral guidance in any given situation would be the Bible [A whopping] 49% accept reincarnation as a possibility after they die.
Cognitive distortions Cognitive distortions are exaggerated patterns of thought that are out of line with reality. All people engage in cognitive distortions to some degree, but if you engage in too many, too often, you may become anxious, depressed, or both. Not coincidentally, learning to avoid cognitive distortions is also a good way to learn critical thinking.
1. MIND READING: You assume that you know what people think without having sufficient evidence of their thoughts. “He thinksI’m a loser.” 2. FORTUNE- TELLING: You predict the future negatively: Things will get worse, or there is danger ahead. “I’ll fail that exam,” or “I won’t get the job.” 3. CATASTROPHIZING: You believe that what has happened or will happen will be so awful and unbearable that you won’t be able to stand it. “It would be terrible if I failed.” 4. LABELING: You assign global negative traits to yourself and others.“I’m undesirable,” or “He’s a rotten person.” 5. DISCOUNTING POSITIVES: You claim that the positive things you or others do are trivial. “That’s what wives are supposed to do— so it doesn’t count when she’s nice to me,” or “Those successes were easy, so they don’t matter.” 6. NEGATIVE FILTERING: You focus almost exclusively on the negatives and seldom notice the positives. “Look at all of the people who don’t like me.” 7. OVERGENERALIZING: You perceive a global pattern of negatives on the basis of a single incident. “This generally happens to me. I seem to fail at a lot of things.” 8. DICHOTOMOUS THINKING: You view events or people in all?or ? ?nothing terms. “I get rejected by everyone,” or “It was a complete waste of time.” 9. SHOULDS: You interpret events in terms of how things should be, rather than simply focusing on what is. “I should do well. If I don’t, then I’m a failure.” 10. PERSONALIZING: You attribute a disproportionate amount of the blame to yourself for negative events, and you fail to see that certain events are also caused by others. “The marriage ended because I failed.” 11. BLAMING: You focus on the other person as the source of your negative feelings, and you refuse to take responsibility for changing yourself. “She’s to blame for the way I feel now,” or “My parents caused all my problems.” 12. UNFAIR COMPARISONS: You interpret events in terms of standards that are unrealistic— for example, you focus primarily on others who do better than you and find yourself inferior in the comparison. “She’s more successful than I am,” or “Others did better than Idid on the test.” 13. REGRET ORIENTATION: You focus on the idea that you could have done better in the past, rather than on what you can do better now.“I could have had a better job if I had tried,” or “I shouldn’t have said that.” 14. WHAT IF?: You keep asking a series of questions about “what if”something happens, and you fail to be satisfied with any of the answers. “Yeah, but what if I get anxious?” or “What if I can’t catch my breath?” 15. EMOTIONAL REASONING: You let your feelings guide your interpretation of reality. “I feel depressed; therefore, my marriage is not working out.” 16. INABILITY TO DISCONFIRM: You reject any evidence or arguments that might contradict your negative thoughts. For example, when you have the thought “I’m unlovable,” you reject as irrelevant any evidence that people like you. Consequently, your thought cannot be refuted. “That’s not the real issue. There are deeper problems.There are other factors.” 17. JUDGMENT FOCUS: You view yourself, others, and events in terms of evaluations as good– bad or superior– inferior, rather than simply describing, accepting, or understanding. You are continually measuring yourself and others according to arbitrary standards, and finding that you and others fall short. You are focused on the judgments of others as well as your own judgments of yourself. “I didn’t perform well in college,” or “If I take up tennis, I won’t do well,” or“Look how successful she is. I’m not successful.”
The antidote to cognitive distortions is practiced disputation, which means examining and engaging with competing ideas in order to correct distortions and arrive at a nearer approximation to the truth.
Fly or Honeybee Some people tell me that they are scandalized because they see many things wrong in the Church. I tell them that if you ask a fly, “Are there any flowers in this area?” it will say, “I don’t know about flowers, but over there in that heap of rubbish you can find all the filth you want.” And it will go on to list all the unclean things it has been to. Now, if you ask a honeybee, “Have you seen any unclean things in this area?” it will reply, “Unclean things? No, I have not seen any; the place here is full of the most fragrant flowers.” And it will go on to name all the flowers of the garden or the meadow. You see, the fly only knows where the unclean things are, while the honeybee knows where the beautiful iris or hyacinth is. Fr Stephen Freeman
View from the Front Porch This past weekend Ann and I traveled to Alabama to attend a small reunion with several of my high school classmates . It was good to get reacquainted and share memories. I am thinking a lot about how our origins were so similar but our perspectives and understandings so different, not so much in a bad way, but different. It was an opportunity to reflect on who I am and how I got here. It made realize how life changing my decision to leave Florence, Alabama and travel to Texas to attend college really was. I discovered this song some years ago and it came back to me as I thought about the reunion. Listen HERE.
Failing to tell the truth, and failing to face the truth, is ultimately more harmful than the opposite. Rod Dreher
Calvin and vaccines Sixteenth-century Reformer John Calvin taught this creational theology with particular verve. “Wherever you cast your eyes,” he wrote in Institutes, “there is no spot in the universe wherein you cannot discern at least some sparks of God’s glory.” What many today call the “natural world” was, for Calvin, a “dazzling theater” of God’s glory. He lamented that “scarcely one man in a hundred is a true spectator of it!” Calvin insisted that through medicine God “provides us with the capacity to attend to our illnesses.” Indeed, he exclaims, “whoever does not take account of the means [medicine] which God has ordained does not have confidence in God but is puffed up with false pride and temerity.”
Telling a story But you can’t convincingly tell a story until you’ve made it your own. Until we allow the story of Jesus to shape our own, to make us more and more into his likeness, we just sound like Pharisees, bleating about religious freedom, insisting on our rights, and demanding the world conform to our esoteric form of holiness. And that’s what people like my Uber driver see. They might be neutral about Jesus, but their views about the church are anything but impartial. Indeed, the reputation of church has never been lower. Michael Frost
center of the cosmos …why not put human being at the center of the cosmos? The universe might be vast, but it is cold and empty. Yet here, in the midst of that vast icy silence, exists a hot, burning flame. You are a candle in the darkness. Incandescent. More mysterious and remarkable than anything reveled by astrophysics. Richard Beck
“Pursuing one goal to the utter exclusion of all others is not to make a choice but to run from it. It’s not leadership; it’s abdication.” Mitch Daniels
Electric Christians Among the “new” things of that era [19th century] were new religious ideas. An interesting group of those ideas fall under the heading of the powers of the mind. It was the great century of electricity and it seems only inevitable that such a force would become a power image for spiritual energy. Already in the late 1700’s, there arose “electrotherapists.” One such physician, T. Gale of upstate New York, who used electricity for the cure of mental and physical diseases, described it as the “soul of the universe.”
For Gale, his fellow electrotherapists, and their numerous patients, electricity was a material current of divine love; matter and spirit, nature and grace, were different aspects of a single reality. God, for Gale, was the “spiritual sun” whose love was “spiritual nutrition”; electricity was that spiritual substance in material form, “participation of the same element as the natural sun diffused through all the natural world.” There was, in Gale’s view, “no animation in the natural world” except by the heat of the “ethereal fire.” Echoing [Jonathan] Edwards, Gale believed that the discovery of electricity and its divine healing properties augured a worldwide Christian millennium. (McCarraher, The Enchantments of Mammon, p. 136)
I often think that in our contemporary times we are tempted to become “electric Christians.” We “send out thoughts and prayers” as though they were radio signals. We gather as many people who will agree to join us in prayer as though its power and effectiveness were somehow increased if more people “generate” it. It is a powerful image, and our thoughts in that direction are not intentionally wrong. But prayer and matters of the Spirit are not electrical forces (nor even like electrical forces). The Holy Spirit is quite silent for the most part (Jn. 16:13). Nevertheless, the Spirit is a person – not a force to be used. It is not for us to create such false images in an effort to explain what cannot be known. Fr Stephen Freeman
Fundamentalist A fundamentalist … is absolutely certain that his system of thought gives him access to unvarnished truth, and therefore doesn’t waste time examining contrary evidence or engaging in dialogue with nonbelievers. The fundamentalist is unshakable in his belief that his viewpoint is perfectly clear and so cannot be misinterpreted. He reasons down from initial premises to what he takes to be unchallengeable conclusions. Persuasion Community
Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. Victor Frankel
View from the Front Porch The world looks different when you view it through grief. RIP Jordon Ezell
My “So much to Think About” posts are, as you know, usually an anthology of notes I have saved to share in “Tweeter-ish” fashion. Occasionally I come across thoughts worthy of more than a “Tweet”. Today’s post is such an occasion.
Mark Manson, a blogger I follow, wrote some thoughts in answer to the question: “What stuff should we pay attention to?” This is personally relevant to me. I am inundated with information. There really is —”So Much to Think About” Much of what I read, and I read a lot, is good stuff , creating a nagging frustration that I need to write, talk, or even pray about it. Manson is helpful: “What stuff should I pay attention to?”
[The following excerpt is from Manson’s article entitled “Attention Diet”, (btw Manson uses adult language)]
…the name of the game is quality over quantity. Because in a world with infinite information and opportunity, you don’t grow by knowing or doing more, you grow by the ability to correctly focus on less.
There are three steps to the Attention Diet:
Correctly identify nutritious information and relationships. Cut out the junk information and relationships. Cultivate habits of deeper focus and a longer attention span.
So, how do we define “junk” information and relationships and “nutritious” information and relationships?
Well, without getting all philosophical, let’s keep it simple.
Junk information is information that is unreliable, unhelpful, or unimportant (i.e., it affects few to no people in any significant way). Junk information is short-form, flashy, and emotionally charged, encouraging addictive consumption patterns.
Nutritious information is information that is reliable, helpful, and likely important (i.e., it affects you and others in significant ways). Nutritious information is long-form, analytical, and encourages deep engagement and extended thought.
Junk relationships are people/groups who you have little face-to-face contact with and/or little mutual trust, who bring out your insecurities and consistently make you feel worse about yourself or the world.
Nutritious connections are people/groups who you have frequent face-to-face contact with and/or a lot of mutual trust who make you feel better and help you grow.
The Attention Diet should be emotionally difficult to implement. Ultimately, junk information hooks us because it is pleasing and easy. We develop low-level addictions to it and end up using it to numb a lot of our day-to-day stresses and insecurities. Therefore, getting rid of the junk information will expose a lot of uncomfortable emotions, trigger cravings, and compulsions, and generally suck for the first few days or weeks. The goal here is to push yourself to stay more focused on what adds value to your life. If it’s not difficult, then you’re probably not really cutting out all of the junk.
I think this is good advice. I plant to adopt an “Attention Diet” in consuming information that comes my way.
Afterword: Ruminating on the idea of Attention Diet” I am wondering what would happen in churches —if leaders vetted information to determine if it is junk or nutritious, before sharing it? — if congregants vetted their relationships in the same way, junk or nutritious?
Self-awareness Self-awareness is being able to not just feel your emotions, but observe yourself feeling your emotions; to not just have thoughts but to observe your thoughts as though they weren’t yours; to not just have beliefs, but to question those beliefs. This self-observation—or the mind that watches itself—is at the root of mental and emotional health. It is a skill that we can practice and become better at. Therefore, knowledge is gained and wisdom is practiced. While knowledge is accumulated, wisdom is honed. While knowledge can be lost, wisdom lasts forever. Mark Manson
Prison Prayer Request Posted on 5.10.2021 As I’ve shared, after a long absence due to COVID, chaplain volunteers have recently been allowed back to the unit on Sundays to participate and preach in the prison worship services. I preached in two services yesterday. In one of the services, we had a moment where the men could come forward for prayer. Three men came to me and we shared in a time of prayer. The request that struck me was from Robert. Robert was heavily tattooed, even on his eyelids. Obviously, an intimidating appearance. But as Robert shared his prayer request, tears started to fill his eyes. Robert was a stutterer. And he wanted prayers for his speech. When he’s anxious or emotional, he can’t express himself. What he carries on the inside cannot make it to the outside. In fact, Robert shared that the reason for all this tattoos is that they communicate the important things that he cannot. He has etched his heart on his skin. I prayed. For the healing of Robert’s speech, but mostly for his pain, his frustration, his embarrassment, his shame. I left the unit thinking about Robert. We’re all carrying on the inside some fragile thing, our external facades masking some shame or deep frustration. Looking at Robert, you wouldn’t know the pain he carried. When we gaze at each other we can’t see what is hidden on the inside. Like Robert, we’re all carrying, even hiding, some private fragile thing. Richard Beck
What Happens? Russell Moore’s powerful and anguished words, “What happens when people reject the church because they think we reject Jesus and the gospel?” He continued, “What if people don’t leave the church because they disapprove of Jesus, but because they’ve read the Bible and have come to the conclusion that the church itself would disapprove of Jesus?”
Sin Sin is so seductive and its strategies can seem so reasonable. In fact, sin is so deceptive as to make standing against it not only humanly unreasonable but culturally untenable, not only unloving but insensitive. J D Walt
Follow your dreams… A few years ago I was the commencement speaker for my son’s High School graduation. During the talk I made a very uncommencment like observation. I said, “During commencement addresses you’re supposed to tell the graduates to ‘follow your dreams.’ But if the research is to be believed, that is bad advice. What we dream for often doesn’t make us happy.” Richard Beck
Live by the Spirit “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. (Galatians 5.25) For years now, Strictly Come Dancing has been a highlight for those who are into such reality shows. What makes for a good performance is timing, movement in unison, anticipation of the moves, mutual understanding, shared enthusiasm, familiarity with the music and rhythm, and practice; lots and lots of practice. If we keep in step with the Spirit, and perform the music of Scripture with practised precision, then we become like those Paul described as those who live by the Spirit, and receive the promise: “The one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” Jim Gordon
The Kingdom of Man In the Kingdom of Man, the seas are ribboned with plastic, the forests are burning, the cities bulge with billionaires and tented camps, and still we kneel before the idol of the great god Economy as it grows and grows like a cancer cell. And what if this ancient faith is not an obstacle after all, but a way through? As we see the consequences of eating the forbidden fruit, of choosing power over humility, separation over communion, the stakes become clearer each day. Surrender or rebellion; sacrifice or conquest; death of the self or triumph of the will; the Cross or the machine. We have always been offered the same choice. The gate is strait and the way is narrow and maybe we will always fail to walk it. But is there any other road that leads home? Paul Kingsworth
Christian corporations …all too many American Christian institutions are corporations first. They’re perpetually-existing legal entities who confront each and every scandal with a single prime directive: This ministry must endure. It is too important to fail. It cannot die. David French
View from the front porch. It has been a busy few days, rehearsal and dinner, wedding and reception, family visiting. It was all good and great memories abound. I cautiously predict spring has arrived, sweet smelling lilacs, stunningly beautiful rhododendrons, green grass, warmer mornings are undeniable evidence. — Linda’s van slowed and stopped. “I lost Archie.” she lamented, “he passed unexpectedly on April 28.” I had been missing him, but with cool weather and my absence, I expected he would appear with spring,—walking to Cluckers to buy lottery tickets for Linda. His wife Linda and I never met but Archie walked past regularly and we often talked. A gregarious person, in his jeans and suspenders, looking like he might have been working in his garden, he shared a lot. He took pleasure in walking the one mile round-trip to buy the lottery tickets for Linda. Unable to get out, lottery tickets brought her some joy, he said. He was willing to do what he could to make her happy. “I love her,” he said, “I finally found a good one, she’s my third wife. We’ve been married 27 years.” “I’m her fourth husband.” Amused, I tried to do the math… I never got to hear the whole story. I miss Archie. As I think about he and Linda, I am thankful that they found each other. I am thankful that Archie stopped to talk. I may just buy her some lottery tickets.
