Posted on May 28, 2012
Some where along the way I started to tell myself some lies about who I am. It’s so easy to do really, sometimes all it takes is one crappy experience as a kid or a particular placement in your family, a situation you find yourself in, just one little thing that you allow to sneak into your heart. Once you start to believe and invest in these untruths, they become bigger and hard to shake. We often struggle, endure, grieve, create space, make peace and embrace whole parts of ourselves that were never true in the first place.
Patience Salgado on Kindnessgirl.com.
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Posted on May 27, 2012
Jesus teaches again and again that the gospel is about a death that leads to life. It’s a pattern, a truth, a reality that comes from losing your life and then finding it.
Rob Bell. More of my favorite quotes from Love Wins, here.
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Posted on May 26, 2012
What the first Christians did was look around them and put the Jesus story in language their listeners would understand.
‘It’s like this…’
‘It’s like that…’
The point, then, isn’t to narrow it to one particular metaphor, image, explanation, or mechanism. To elevate one over the others, to insist that there’s a ‘correct’ or ‘right’ one, is to miss the brilliant, creative work these first Christians were doing when they used these images and metaphors. They were reading their world, looking for ways to communicate this epic event in ways their listeners could grasp.
Rob Bell. More of my favorite quotes from Love Wins, here.
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Posted on May 25, 2012
Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted … but to weigh and consider.
Sir Francis Bacon (via explore-blog)
(Source: , via explore-blog)
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Posted on May 23, 2012
“Marriage is about finding a comrade, not ultimate contentment. It’s about finding a helpmate, not a healer.” From Debra K. Fileta on Relevant.com.
THIS. Oh my gosh, THIS. You would think we wouldn’t need to be told this stuff, and yet…we do. Because we’ve been brainwashed from a very young age to think that finding “the one” is the end goal. Hogwash.
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Posted on May 23, 2012
When you grow up as a Gen-Xer, cynicism is a badge of honor. It is part of your identity, and it is how you belong. Cynicism was the key that unlocked friendship with your peers, and you bonded with others based on your mutual disdain, disappointment, and hurt. And we Gen-Xers had plenty of good reasons to be cynical. We saw plenty of bad marriages, corrupt leadership, dysfunctional churches, and absentee authority figures.
A strange thing happened along the way of my 30s. I started losing my cynicism. And I think a lot of my peers have too. My first question, in relationships, in church, and in life is no longer “What is wrong with this?” I no longer think that my generation, or any generation, knows better than everyone else. I have started asking new questions like “What can I learn from this?” and “how is God at work in this situation or person that I don’t fully understand?”
Adam S. McHugh, in his article “Losing My Cynicism” on IntrovertedChurch.com.
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Posted on May 22, 2012
Is the cross about the end of the sacrificial system
or a broken relationship that’s been reconciled
or a guilty defendant who’s been set free
or a battle that’s been won
or the redeeming of something that was lost?
Which is it?
Which perspective is the right one? Which metaphor is correct? Which explanation is true?
The answer, of course, is yes.
Rob Bell, in his book Love Wins. I’ll be posting more quotes from the book over the next couple of weeks.
I read this book some time ago and really enjoyed it, but I set it aside and just let myself digest it for a while. Supposedly it’s “controversial,” but aren’t most books where someone reads the Bible and tries to write down what they think it means? Every book is one writer’s opinion, just musings on paper. People get all hulked out about something just because it’s getting attention from sensationalism-obsessed media outlets, but really they should read everything they can get their hands on, and read it all critically. Whether it’s on some magical “approved book” list or not. When you’re asked to read something and strip away all your modern assumptions and all of this culture’s ideas about what IS and what ISN’T and just get down to the bare bones and re-think it from scratch, can you do it? Are you too scared to strip those things away and look at the text? I’m not judging, because I know — it’s terrifying! Anyway, whatever points I do or don’t agree with in the book, much of it has strengthened me and challenged me, and (as usual) Bell finds a way to express things I know in my heart but can’t find a way to say.
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Posted on May 18, 2012
Children are not deceived by fairy-tales; they are often and gravely deceived by school-stories. Adults are not deceived by science-fiction; they can be deceived by the stories in the women’s magazines.
C. S. Lewis on fantasy vs. fact, a timeless and timely reminder of the role of critical thinking in making sense of the stories we’re told. (via explore-blog)
(Source: , via explore-blog)
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Posted on May 17, 2012
We tell stories to continue ourselves. We all think an exception is going to be made in our case, and we’re going to live forever. And being a human is actually arriving at the understanding that that’s not going to be. Story is there to just remind us that it’s just okay.
Legendary PBS filmmaker Ken Burns on what makes a great story (via explore-blog)
(Source: , via explore-blog)
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Posted on May 17, 2012
Eye-opening piece about how what we think is “charity” often disempowers those we seek to help. By Bob Lupton for Relevant.com.
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