Henri Nouwen makes an important distinction about pastoral ministry. A contemplative is able to live fully in the moment, but not be ruled by, and reacting to, the anxiety of that moment. In that he is able to help others to look beyond their present ‘panic-stricken convulsions’ to responses that resonate with the character of …
In a brief article at Christian Century, Craig Barnes writes about the disposition of wanting to protect people from their own hurt feelings, and how the life in the church is not meant to be place where flawed people grow in Christ likeness by experiencing the imperfections that remain within us: Congregations are filled with …
A thoughtful piece by Rory Shiner about the differences between nominalism and secularism and how the worshipping church responds differently to each. The observation that nominalism (people who identify as Christian without meaningfully following Jesus, while following a form of traditional church observance) and secularism (people who don’t identify as Christian or followers of Jesus, …
Michael Kelley writes a four point reflection on the phrase from the Psalms ‘teach us to number our days.’ Why? We naturally assume that there will always be tomorrow – that there will always be another chance for this or that. We become procrastinators in our arrogance, assuming that the limited number of days we …
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