Reflections from the belly
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This is the last week of our summer season. On Wednesday, the new season of Lent begins. We will kick off with an austere service which calls us to humble repentance. We will name how we have fallen into disobedience, disillusionment, despair, darkness, even hell; we will seek God’s forgiveness; and we will commit ourselves to the Lenten journey to Jerusalem. Continue reading “Luke | Journey to Jerusalem: A roadmap”
My mother was a pastoral caregiver: the person everyone approached to talk, weep and rage through life’s crises. When she became sick, a problem emerged. People would come and pour out their strong feelings about her illness (not theirs); and she, in pain and exhausted, would quell her own feelings and comfort them as best as she was able – even as she desperately needed comforting herself. Continue reading “Ministry | The ring theory of kvetching”
Gossip is so often named in the church as bad, bad, bad, that I am suspicious; so on Sunday I reflected on how healthy gossip can build community (here). After the reflection, someone commented that they had been told as a young person never to talk about anyone else; and that meant that they never even shared good news, not even with their spouse. The idea of healthy gossip was new, and suggested intriguing possibilities of positive communication. Yay! Continue reading “Further thoughts on gossip”
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Tonight’s passage from the Epistle of James scares the living daylights out of me. Apparently, my tongue is a deadly fire. It stains the whole body. It is a restless evil, full of poison. And as one who speaks to the gathered community, I will be judged with greater strictness for my speech. Even worse, this passage is often used to preach against gossip: that form of talking about people which is so often done by women. I should be quaking in my boots — and believe me, I am! For I am a woman who regularly chats with people about people. And yet, while there is no doubt in my mind that careless and malicious words can be incredibly destructive, I’d like to step back, and take a good look at gossip. Continue reading “James | Holy gossip?!”
Alison and the whale 