July 2011
6 posts
“It is easy to confess that I have not fasted on prescribed days, or that I’ve...”
– Fr. Alexander Schmemann, Great Lent
Justin’s preaching the prodigal son parable on Sunday. I’m packing tissues. And wearing waterproof mascara.
June 2011
10 posts
A parable (part 2)
She began walking home, and as she approached her house, a neighbor called to her from his porch, asking to borrow an extra blanket. When she got closer, she could see that he was holding his newborn son. The child was healthy, but even in the darkness, she saw his tiny lips quivering, bundled though he was, from the cold.
Immediately, the woman’s thoughts darted to the matches she held. One...
A parable
The following is part 1 of the parable Justin preached on Sunday:
There once was a woman who was always running into things. Low-hanging tree branches, big rocks, not so big rocks, furniture, walls.
And she wasn’t alone. She lived in a town filled with people who, every day, would walk around stubbing their toes, hitting their heads, and getting poked in the eye.
The problem, you see, was that in...
A Parable
This Sunday Justin preached a parable. He told a story. No introduction. No explanation. Just trusted that those with ears to hear would hear.
I had an older woman from church call me today to make sure the podcast hadn’t cut off the end of the sermon. When she discovered that, no, she’d actually heard the whole thing, she was delighted. Even over the phone I could tell she was...
“Now there are very few rules to improvisation, but one of the things I was...”
– Stephen Colbert in a commencement speech at Northwestern
Preach
I heard a man preach.
Not teach
A legged book in stereo
Not coach
All energy, pep, no depth
Not speak
Words into air.
I heard a man preach.
Preaching like dancing a twisting, dipping tango
Preaching like singing, like dirge wailing
Preaching by living, alive and in front and on tiptoe.
He preached and I saw
Saw small fish in eddies, small fish in vast seas
children climbing
the grown...
“In a discarnate age, the only option Christians have for presenting a credible,...”
– “Taming the Image” by Read Mercer Schuchardt
I don’t know that I agree with this but I’m certainly listening.
Images vs Words (holy cagematch) →
“While our culture is dominated by Image, historically the church has always been dominated by Word. Image has an undeniable immediacy, but it tends to reveal only the surface of things. The Word is better able to cultivate deep reflection and precise, critical thought. Trading the Word for the Image is no incidental move. It changes what we say, as well as how we say it. Yet given the...
Similar
A rock in my shoe
A bug bite
A three inch patch of sunburned thigh, neglected in the sunscreen distribution
A cold sore
A piece of popcorn kernel lodged between two molars
My unsold house
““Life is a night spent in an uncomfortable inn.”
and yet…
...”
– St. Teresa and St. Catherine of Siena
Both good. Both true. 