A good theology of suffering teaches us not to waste our sorrows, but to sidle up as close as we can to the heart of Jesus as we endure our pains. While I’d rather sound like Elijah than Eeyore when I pray, the “positive confession” can sometimes be more spiritualistic than spiritual. I want to …
A Pinprick in the Bleak
"Hope is a revolutionary patience… Hope begins in the dark, knowing that the dawn will come." Anne Lamott No clock or calendar can tell whether we’re at the beginning, the middle, or near the end of any bleak experience. Unlike the obsidian darkness, which arrived all at once, after six months or so the light …
Made To Be “Feelers”
I don’t think that God is as offended as we might think by our honest-hearted rantings, the ones plump with pain. Emotions are part of the human condition. They’re neither good nor bad, they just are. Granted, some emotions are more pleasant than others. Give me glad over mad or sad any day. He’s the …
“Jobian”
If I had my way, everything would fit a predictable pattern and be nailed down with precise definitions. Yet we can’t fit God into our patterns or definitions, and so it takes spiritual maturity to live with the ambiguity and the chaos, the absurdity and the untidiness. Accepting the ambiguity of God’s ways is a …
Mature Christians Join Jesus In His Suffering
“I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings” So, the experience of resurrection, that we spoke about in the last post, comes with a price, a huge price. It’s called the cross. Remember how Jesus beckoned us to take up our own cross and follow …
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barney wiget 