Stay inspired.
Scroll for helpful tips, stories, and news.
We like to establish a sense of order and predictability in a world where things are too often out of control. When tragedy strikes. an earthquake, a hurricane, an automobile accident, a crime – we look for an explanation to make sense of the event. If we can just find some reason for another’s suffering – their sins, choices, mistakes – we feel more in control by knowing that we have not made the same mistakes as someone else. We have made better choices. We have not committed those same sins.
When was the last time you went to bed thankful and amazed by what the day had given you, something you had not planned or foreseen? Maybe it was a conversation, a chance to meet someone new, a moment of hope, beauty, truth or insight that changed you, an experience when you felt really alive. I am asking about more than being energized and enthused. I am asking about welcoming an expectancy, an attitude of wonder, an openness to “come what may.”
Be like Jesus and JUST SAY NO. Does that sound familiar? I wonder if that’s how we often hear this weekend’s story of the temptation in Luke 4: 1-13. I’m guessing most of us know the JUST SAY NO story or some variation of it. Maybe it’s what you were taught or have come to believe. It’s often a theme underlying Lent and a common approach for dealing with temptation in our lives. But, is temptation really that simple? I don’t think so. Our lives and faith are more than the sum of our choices. Our temptations are rarely a simple choice between this or that.
LOVE. It is a word that has become lost in overuse. It’s hard to talk in a meaningful way about love because the word has been emptied of so much meaning. We love those shoes, we love our spouse, we love our friends – it’s a catch-all word that refers to a whole lot of things at once – our preferences, our tastes, physical objects that bring pleasure, alongside the deepest and most intimate relationships we can ever have. When I find this word on my lips, I often feel the word LOVE is inadequate
Simeon took the child Jesus in his arms and praised God, saying, “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation” (Luke 2:28-30). Those are beautiful words by which Simeon tells the story of his life. But what about us? What about our story? What good is it to us if Simeon receives into his arms the child Jesus and we do not? What good is it to us if Simeon’s eyes see salvation and our eyes do not? What good is it to us if Simeon is free to go in peace if we are not? It’s not enough to simply celebrate the Presentation of our Lord this weekend and Simeon receiving the child Jesus in his arms if that is all this feast is about.
“You Can’t Touch Me, I Have Been Baptized”
A professor stood before his philosophy class with some items in front of him. When the class began, without saying a word, he picked up a very large, empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar as well. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
Based on the story, ”The Mayonnaise Jar” - the original source and author unknown
A professor stood before his philosophy class with some items in front of him. When the class began, without saying a word, he picked up a very large, empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar as well. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
“Let Jesus Grow Up”
“Child, why have you treated us like this?” Sound familiar? Think back to your childhood. Do you remember hearing those words or words like them? Did you ever say anything like that to your children?
Mary’s question to Jesus in this week’s Gospel from Luke 2:41-52 is probably not unfamiliar to most of us. We tend to focus on the tension, conflict, and misunderstanding that surrounds the “Child, why have you treated us like this?”
Hospitality Heals Our Estrangement
“Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.” What’s this about? Luke doesn’t tell us why she went or what she was looking for but maybe we can get a clearer picture of what’s going on if we put this coming Sunday’s gospel from Luke 1:39-25 in a larger context. The angel Gabriel has just told Mary that she has been chosen and favored by God, that God is with her, that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and the power of the Most High will overshadow her, that she will conceive and give birth to a son, the Son of God, and she will name him Jesus.
“ON OUR TERMS OR ON GOD”S TERMS?”
That question is at the center of John the Baptist’s call for repentance this Advent Season. It applies in every situation regarding how we live our faith in this world. “What then should we do?” That question is asked of John three times in this week’s Gospel from Luke 3:7-18. The crowds ask it. The tax collectors ask it. The soldiers ask it. It’s a question many of us ask.
Let’s work together