A Further Word on Gratitude

"In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy. Gratitude as a discipline involves a conscious choice. I can choose to be grateful even when my emotions and feelings are still steeped in hurt and resentment. It is amazing how many occasions present themselves in which I can choose gratitude instead of a complaint ... The choice for gratitude rarely comes without some real effort. But each time I make it, the next choice is a little easier, a little freer, a little less self-conscious." - Henri Nouwen

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Touchdown Jesus

For the second consecutive year, I traveled up US 31 to South Bend, Indiana on a beautiful fall day. I traveled with Curtis Lawrence, and we went for the sole purpose of watching the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team take the field. Now, I must note that it was my childhood dream to attend Notre Dame. Even loftier, it was also my dream - like many young boys growing up in Indiana - to suit up for the Fighting Irish. Surprisingly - even with such hopes - I had never actually visited the campus. For the first thirty years of my life, I never set foot on one of the more storied and celebrated college campus and football meccas in America. That absence was broken, though, when I made that first trip up to South Bend last year. Let me tell you: even after all those years of waiting, the campus and football stadium at Notre Dame lived up to all the out-sized expectations I had. Like most places of prominence, Notre Dame Stadium really cannot be described through words. It is so...

Acts 2:42-47 - Questions for Reflection & Study

This past Sunday, we took a look at Luke's first summary passage in the story of Acts: chapter 2, verses 42-47. Here, Luke is presenting a billboard of what the Church looks like at its best. He is trying to convince Theophilus that Christianity is worth his attention. The early Church captures what all of us are looking for, whether we know it or not. This is a close community that truly cares for one another, where everyone truly is seen as a brother and sister, and where no one person is considered more or less important as the other. Needs are being met. There is joy in their fellowship. Take a moment to think about a time in your life when you experienced the joy and blessing of a deep, loving community? Where was it, and what made this community so different? What role did you play in this community? Luke tells us the disciples "devoted themselves" to four essential practices. The Greek word for "devoted" ...

The Gifts of Austerity

I’ve had it. The Canadian Geese finally pushed me over the edge. That was my tipping point. I was driving back to the church after running a few errands on my lunch hour, and there they were flying through the sky. Steadily flying south in packs of ten and four and six. They were escaping what was feeling more and more like an existential play. No Exit . Waiting for Godot . That sort of thing. The sort of tale where you never really emerge. You. Just. Wait. It’s been almost a year now since this whole COVID journey began, which seems both ridiculous and unreal. There’s no possible way it hasn’t been a full year. There’s no possible way we haven’t come up on the one-year anniversary of when they shut down the schools and we fumbled our way through our first on-line service. There’s a word that captures where we are right now. It’s not a fun word. It’s a winter wor...

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