Category: Humanity
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The Comfort Paradox
The first time I heard the saying, “Afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted”, it was in seminary. I heard it from a cohort leader who said it in a way that led me to believe that she made it up. She never said she made it up. But, that was her response, when I…
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Being With God
God is the ground of being, being-itself; who concerns us ultimately. Thus, God is our ultimate concern. — Paul Tillich I’ll be honest with you and say that on a weekly if not daily basis, I find myself wondering what good I am doing as a pastor. It’s not that I don’t appreciate what I do or the people with…
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How 8 Thou Art (Reflections on My Enneagram#)
For about 6 years now, I have known that I am a type 8 on the Enneagram, what is often referred to as the Challenger/Protector. Even before I had a name and a number to describe some aspects of how I show up in the world, I was aware of many of the dimensions of…
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Somewhere I Belong
You only are free when you realize you belong no place — you belong every place — no place at all. The price is high. The reward is great… — Maya Angelou “You don’t belong here.” For the first 5 or so minutes that this woman was talking to me, I was hoping that my short responses to her…
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Transforming Purpose
Years ago a friend told me that he was sad because he didn’t know his life’s purpose. For some reason, I had never thought about that concept before. And so, because I didn’t know how to take what he was saying seriously, I insensitively reacted with laughter. This upset him, which only made me laugh…
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Communicating to Death (or some better title)
“Urkel is dead and I can’t breathe.” Those were the words Oprah spoke to the interviewer when they asked her about one of the most recent casualties of a senseless shooting. I couldn’t breathe either. How could Urkel be gone? He held the hopes of so many of us. He had achieved the dream and…
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There is No Competition
I might be going through a midlife crisis (MLC). A word that etymologically means, “the point at which change must come, for better or worse.” I remember that whenever I heard about MLCs growing up, I thought that whatever it was, it would never happen to me because the way MLCs are typically characterized, it…
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Surrounded! – How Do You Respond Under Threat?
In a world where we are constantly reminded of the dangers that surround us, who among us has not imagined what we would do if we found ourselves in a dangerous or perhaps life-threatening situation? It seems like everyday we hear some story of innocent victims of unspeakable crimes. And whether it is a shooting…
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Escaping the Prison Industrial Mindset
Tonight I realized that I feel safer in cars that look like I can afford them. That is a sad awareness that I need to work on more deeply. How I realized this was that I had to rent a car. I had a coupon that enabled me to get a compact for the same…
The Roofless Church 