Making Heads and Hands of the Mark of the Beast If there is one aspect of Revelation that has been overused, abused and fallen prey to our constant temptation to make John’s first century letter a document that predicts the future it has to be the mark of the
Continue reading →Image from hellojenuine. “But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not cling to life even in the face of death.” (Revelation 12:11) The work of the People One of the signs of a true artist
Continue reading →Ever More Precise Let’s begin with a poem called Claritas by Denise Levertov: The All-Day bird, the artist, whitethroated sparrow, striving in hope and good faith to make his notes ever more precise, closer to what he knows. I love this line: Striving in hope and good faith to
Continue reading →This is the message I shared at Camas Friends on Revelation 5. [Painting by Francisco de Zurbarán — “Agnus Dei”] Fear, Desire for control and Violence are some of the main qualities that tend to show themselves when our lives feel like they are spinning out of control. When we first
Continue reading →The Lampstands in the Darkness This past week the American consciousness has been tilted towards the East Coast. Every news source, every line posted to social media, and many of the prayers offered up have been on behalf of those who were injured, killed and/or traumatized on Monday in
Continue reading →Bafflement During the retreat I was on last weekend with other young leaders led by Parker Palmer and Marcy Jackson, Parker mentioned that he never writes books about things he knows, he only writes on things that baffle him. You know the difference? You never google the stuff you are
Continue reading →Unless we are dead we are on a journey. Our journeys might be more inward focused at the moment, they might be more about outward changes, but either way life is filled with journeys. But the best kind of journeys are the ones that cost us something: where risk is
Continue reading →This is the message I gave on Palm Sunday this year at Camas Friends. A dinner party When I look at this text I see a very unusual and meaningful dinner party. It is nothing like a dinner party at the White House, or what we might find on Downton
Continue reading →This is the message I gave Sunday March 17, 2013 at Camas Friends Church and is drawn from Isaiah 43: 16-21. Holding the Tension This past weekend I had the chance to go to Philadelphia to participate in a consultation with a Quaker foundation. Not only did I learn a
Continue reading →On Sunday we did a reader’s theater of the Hans Christen Andersen’s fable “The Emperor’s New Suit.” That helped set the stage for the rest of the discussion that followed. Idols Create a false sense of self During Lent, Michaela Bruzzese, says that “we are offered a
Continue reading →[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltun92DfnPY&w=640&h=360]
Continue reading →When death comes by Mary Oliver When death comes like the hungry bear in autumn when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse to buy me, and snaps his purse shut; when death comes like the measle-pox; when death comes like an iceberg between the shoulder
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