Field notes on life and mission with God in post-Christendom
I've started reading St. Maximus the Confessor during my morning prayer time, and I found myself caught up in wonder, love, and praise when I read this quote: Everything will cease its willful movement toward something else when the ultimate … [Continue reading] about The Ultimate Beauty That Satisfies Our Desire
"Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and your law is truth." - Psalm 119:142 "Your law is truth." We aren't used to thinking like this. We think of laws as rules, so how can rules be truth? We read our own assumptions about what … [Continue reading] about Your Law is Truth?
Here's St. Augustine on the perennial question of prayer: If God knows what we need before we ask him, what's the point of prayer? Why we should pray, when he knows what we need before we ask him, may perplex us if we do not realize that our Lord … [Continue reading] about Why pray?
These are some beautiful thoughts about the parable of the prodigal son from Peter Chrysologos, Bishop of Ravenna [450 AD]. Notice how there is no hint of shame in the way the father embraces his wayward son. "I will break away and return to my … [Continue reading] about Judging and Correcting By Embracing and Kissing
Recently I read through the Old Testament books of Ezra and Nehemiah. I was especially struck by Ezra's repentance in chapter 9. He finds out that other Israelites have sinned. He hasn't committed this particular sin. Others have. And yet, when he … [Continue reading] about Repenting For Others