Tag: Love

Christian Leadership, Christianity, Culture, Devotion, Faith, Life, Sermon

Sunday’s Sermon: Resolution 2015 – Love

One of the things that I have struggled with throughout my life is love. I have a hard time receiving it and, to be honest, there are times when I have difficulty sharing it with others. 

Much of my difficulty with love is rooted in some deep hurts in my life. It is hard to feel the sting of not being loved by those who were unwilling or unable to do so. I have felt the painful rejection of friends, and even family members. The loneliness of connection, for an extrovert, can be quite difficult. My own hurts and pains, throughout the years, have created a wall that makes it difficult at times to receive and experience love.

It is painful for me and, to be honest, a reality that we all confront. In one way or another, we have all been hurt by love. As a result, we all struggle with love at some level, either in its giving or receiving. All of us know what it feels like to be rejected. We have struggled with sharing our thoughts with someone close to us. We have been hurt, broken, saddened, and frustrated by our attempt to share love or receive love. Writer and theologian Eugene Peterson writes about our desire for love. He says, “In no other human experience do we fail so frequently, get hurt so badly, suffer excruciatingly, and get deceived so cruelly as in love. Still, we continue to long for it, dream of it, and attempt it.”  Continue reading “Sunday’s Sermon: Resolution 2015 – Love”

Christian Leadership, Christianity, Devotion, Public Theology

What if We Prayed for the “Other” Political Party?

This morning, my devotional reading took me to one of the most challenging passages of Scripture. In Matthew 5:43-48, Jesus invites those who seek to follow him to love our enemies and to pray for them.

It is a word that is as uncomfortable as it is challenging. No one is naturally inclined to love their enemies. No one really wants to even pray for them. Our natural inclination is to despise our enemies. We don’t want to show love or concern for them. Yet, Jesus calls us to the deeper and more difficult way of life that sees our enemy as our neighbor and calls us to see them as a child of God created in God’s very image.

That is hard to do. Many have reflected on how this passage calls us to care for the personal enemies in our lives, those people who just seem to get in our way or make life difficult for us. We’ve also reflected on how this passage calls us to find ways to pray for those who would do us harm. None of those things are easy, but it is the way of Christ who showed what this looks like when he prayed for those who crucified him on the cross. Continue reading “What if We Prayed for the “Other” Political Party?”

Christian Leadership, Christianity, Culture, Devotion, Encouragement, Faith, Life, Sermon

A Hope That Never Fades

Today marks the beginning of the Advent season and the beginning of a new Christian year. For four weeks we will look ahead with anticipation to both the celebration of the birth of Christ and the Lord’s eventual return. It is a season of excitement, of busyness, and of magnificent colors and decorations. It is a season of hope.

That word, hope, is among the key words of Advent. It is one that we need today. Hope is something that seems to be absent in our lives and in our world this season. We approach this start to the Advent season wondering if hope exist today or may be felt in a world of tears, brokenness, and death. Continue reading “A Hope That Never Fades”

Christian Leadership, Christianity, Culture, Devotion, Encouragement, Faith, Life, Sports

Loving the Weeds

Before entering ministry, I had the great joy and privilege of being a journalist. For 11 years starting in high school when I was a part-time stringer for the local paper I covered everything a young reporter could cover. I saw the inner workings of the legislative process, the fast-paced nature of NASCAR on a race weekend, the joy of a high school athlete who just won a state title, and the pain caused by the most obscure crimes.

Though I no longer cover a beat with my reporter’s notebook in hand I often find myself reflective of that time in my life. One of the things I have recognized about this time in my life was that it was season of preparation for this life in pastoral ministry. Not only did it give me the tools to communicate and express our mutual hope in Jesus Christ, but it also gave me the tools to look at our communities and world and to see what we often do not see at first glance. Continue reading “Loving the Weeds”

Christian Leadership, Christianity, Culture, Devotion, Encouragement, Faith, Life, Sermon

Living the Mission

What is on your mind?

That is one of those questions we seem to ask a lot. I know it is one that I ask Abbi, in some form, several times a day. It is a question of curiosity about someone else. With this question, we are asking someone what they are thinking about in that moment.

You may not think about this immediately, but I think there may also be a theological aspect to this question. I think it gets to a deeper meaning that brings to mind what is driving our interests. Sometimes, I think this question can be asked in such a way that it allows us to talk about what we are focused on. By this, we are asking someone about what captivates, motivates, or has their attention.

It is important that we pay attention to what our focus is. I say that because often our focus, or what holds our attention, is what we share with others. Think about this in the simplest of terms: if we are having a bad day, try as hard as we might, we might not give our best to someone else. That is because the fact we are having a bad day, or whatever else might be grabbing our attention, is often what affects our relationships with others. Continue reading “Living the Mission”