Seeing Differently

Core Value, Love 0

It’s about seeing differently. We then undertake the search for innocence in the other. We cease to find the guilty party. We no longer divide into camps: Heroes and Villains. We end up only seeing heroes. We look for the unchangeable goodness that’s always there in the other. Love as the Geiger counter watching for any sign of light and strength. This goodness is a heat-seeking force. Love always sees how far we’ve come. You see Lefty and presume “he’s up to all good.” This real self, truly the Christ self, is experienced as expansive and huge.

It will always be less exhausting to love than to find fault. When we see fault, we immediately believe that something has to be done about it. But love knows that nothing is ever needed. Ever. As the homie Stevie says daily: “Love, love, and more love.” Only love sees.

— Gregory Boyle, The Whole Language, p. 40-41.

Photo: Purple irises by a lake, South Riding, Virginia, May 6, 2025

We All Have a Place

Acceptance, Community, God, Jesus, Universalism 0

Over and over again, Jesus shows us the humanity of those we would put into different compartments from ourselves. He reminds us that our fellow brothers, sisters, and siblings are not so easily categorized and separated. To one another, we should not be enemies to be defeated, resources to be exploited, or infidels to be converted. We all belong to one another as one family, and we all belong to God as a heavenly Parent. So it only follows that we would all have a place through God’s gate and at God’s table, no matter how long it takes for us to get there.

–Derek Ryan Kubilus, Holy Hell, p. 91

Photo: Bluebells at Bull Run Regional Park, Virginia, April 18, 2025

Inside the Miracle of the Loaves and Fish

Blessing, God, Grace 0

I live my entire life inside the miracle of the loaves and fish. Nearly every sermon I preach feels incomplete and inadequate, but I preach it anyway, praying Jesus will fill in the gaps. My leadership is often imperfect and insufficient, but I lead to the best of my ability anyway and wait for Jesus to step in. The money I give away, particularly in response to acute human suffering, is never enough to meet the need, but I give anyway, hoping that, along with others, I might ease another’s pain. The image of a few loaves and some fish feeding a multitude is meant to encourage us all to give what we have when we know it is not enough. For reasons beyond our understanding, God consistently chooses to work through our imperfect, inadequate offerings.

–Mariann Edgar Budde, How We Learn To Be Brave, p. 117

Photo: Blackwater Falls, West Virginia, April 23, 2025

More Elastic Than You Think

Growth, Life 0

When you think you know the shape and size of your life, when you think you know what is possible, something will happen to prove you wrong. Be open to this — you want to be wrong! Trust that your life is more elastic than you think: it can grow, be more, hold more.

KEEP MOVING.

— Maggie Smith, Keep Moving, p. 161

Photo: Blackwater Falls, West Virginia, April 24, 2025

Greater Glory

Atonement, Forgiveness, God, Jesus, Love, Redemption 0

What would have happened if Jesus, in terrible pain on the cross, had commanded an army of angels to come and wipe out his persecutors? What would have happened if Jesus had bought into the violent response of Peter when the Romans came to arrest him? Violence, bloodshed, death, maybe even war, right? But instead, Jesus responded in the opposite way. He commanded Peter to put away his sword and he spoke words of forgiveness from the cross. In so doing, he broke the cycle of violence and reconciled us to God so that we could spend an eternity celebrating and enjoying our restored relationship with a God who loves us. Which brings God more glory – retribution or restoration? I think the answer is obvious.

–Sharon L. Baker, Executing God, p. 99

Photo: Cherry blossoms, South Riding, Virginia, March 28, 2025

The Compassionate Heart of God

Atonement, Compassion, God, Grace, Jesus, Love, Redemption 0

What do I see when I look upon Christ in death with a pierced side? I see that a soldier’s spear has opened a window into the heart of God. As I gaze into the heart of God I discover that there is no wrath, no malice, no threat, no vengeance; only compassion, mercy, and forgiveness. Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks” (Mt 12:34). Jesus dies, not with a curse upon his lips, but with a plea for pardon. To see Christ upon the cross is to see into the very depths of the heart of God. Where once in our distant pagan past we imagined there lurked monstrous intent threatening harm, we now discover there is only tender compassion. On the cross we encounter a God who would rather die than kill his enemies. When we look through the riven side of Christ into the heart of God, we gaze upon a vast cosmos filled with galaxies of grace.

–Brian Zahnd, The Wood Between the Worlds, p. 33

Photo: Cherry blossoms in a heart shape, South Riding, Virginia, March 28, 2025

If God Can

Acceptance, God, Grace 0

We sing, Holy, Holy, Holy. We say, “Yes, yes, it is good.” We are energized by what we see. And our private darkness is no great surprise. Who cares? Who cares where I am on the ladder of perfection? That’s an egocentric question. “Where am I?” “How holy am I?” become silly questions. If God can receive me, who am I to not receive myself – warts and all?

–Richard Rohr, Everything Belongs, p. 105

Photo: Buds and blue sky, South Riding, Virginia, March 21, 2025

Bright Moments

Beauty, God, Joy 0

It’s tempting to dismiss these bright moments as merely flashes of serendipity, of coincidence. I contend that they are limited only by our response to them. We’ve already considered that hallowed moments are often found in small things and small places and that God does not have a habit of appearing to us in spectacular ways. Rather, we note God’s presence when we take time to observe the humble, everyday miracles and, now and then, the bright moments. These will not make the newspapers, but they should surely hold space in our private journals.

–Tracy Balzer, A Journey of Sea and Stone, p. 81

Photo: Sunrise, South Riding, Virginia, March 7, 2025

Living in the House of God

God, Joy 0

Recovering this sacramental ontology is the next big step toward enchanting our faith in this skeptical age. This is a one-story universe. So let’s stop going through the day living as if God doesn’t exist. God is everywhere present. God isn’t that mysterious neighbor living in the apartment above you. God is closer than you can imagine. The signs and sacraments are all around you. Christ is playing in ten thousand places. The world hums with sacred electricity. Listen for the laughter and follow your joy. You are standing at the gateway to heaven. You are living in the House of God.

–Richard Beck, Hunting Magic Eels, p. 90

Photo: Burg Grafendahn, Germany, June 18, 2024