Change

Christian Spiritual Practices: Welcome and Hospitality

The dictionary says, “A spiritual practice or spiritual discipline (often including spiritual exercises) is the regular or full-time performance of actions and activities undertaken for the purpose of inducing spiritual experiences and cultivating spiritual development”. Spiritual practices are more than about prayer. They are not necessarily defined by how one acts in church but rather they can be anything that gives someone a spiritual experience. … [Read more…]

In God’s Hands: Learning to Place our Trust in God

Trusting in a God that we cannot see is possibly the most difficult in times of change, when it becomes easier to rely on the old familiar idols to bring us comfort. Our idols may not be golden calves or bulls, but we do have our idols. They just come with different faces. Sometimes it … [Read more…]

A Spirit Focus Life

Last week, we discussed remaining hopeful and using our life experiences for the work of God no matter how challenging they may be. However, I understand that is easier said than done. Paul and Silas make it look so easy to just pray and sing and remain hopeful amid beatings, slander, imprisonment, and possible death. … [Read more…]

What Kind of Peace Do You Desire?

I am reading a fascinating book titled Savage Continent by Keith Lowe that focuses on the aftermath of World War II in Europe. It spends a long time outlining what life looked like for citizens and the masses of displaced peoples who had been imprisoned in work camps, concentration camps, and prison camps throughout Nazi … [Read more…]

From Conflict to Life Giving Forgiveness Part 5: Can You Trust God to Forgive?

The new preschool education standards focus on evaluating and teaching lessons in social emotional skills. This is something that was never present in preschool or public school educational goals in the past. Part of the social emotional educational goals is to teach empathy and conflict management skills. However, it has occurred to me that as … [Read more…]

From Conflict to Life Giving Forgiveness Part 4: Love Thy Self

Do you have regrets? I would say many of us do. Do you have those things that you wish you did not do? I would say we all do. As a whole humanity holds themselves to certain standards that they don’t always successfully live up to and thus we hold others to even higher standards … [Read more…]

From Conflict to Life Giving Forgiveness Part 3: Turning From Judgment

I knew a woman who strongly believed that everyone was judging her, being purposefully unkind to her, and hated her. She lived day in and day out angry at all of her co-workers, wishing hardships on them, because they obviously disliked her and were harboring negativity towards her. Her anger increased by the day and … [Read more…]

From Conflict to Life Giving Forgiveness Part 2: The Meaning of Grace

The earliest known written record of laws was the Code of Hammurabi in 1754 BC. Amongst their many laws is a very familiar one: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. This generally means that whatever actions are taken against you then legally you can act out the same actions in retaliation. … [Read more…]

Embracing a New Perspective

When I walk into a church for worship, the seat that I take is up in the loft. As the child of a choir member, this was where I was raised to sit when in a church. To this day, I am a little uncomfortable sitting in the congregation. When I take a class, my … [Read more…]