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Blog postListen, if you will, to this word from Rich Dixon:
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Why didn’t they listen?
The question came up in our small group (I might have asked it). A prophet brought a clear message from God. He told them the consequences of disobedience. They ignored his warning and suffered the consequences. Cry out to God. Repent.
Rinse, and repeat. We see the same pattern throughout Israel’s history, and we have to wonder.
Why didn’t they listen?
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Blog post(Part two of a message from April 23, based on John 20:19-31. See part one.)
And we say, “But what about Thomas’ statement when he heard about the night?” He says, “unless I see his hands and side, and I touch him, I won’t believe.”
That’s the sure sign of a doubter, right?
May I ask a question? Who is he doubting? Jesus? Or is he doubting Peter? The man who had said he would stick with Jesus and then denied him. Is he doubting Nathaniel, who had been the ori -
Blog postPart one of a message from April 23, 2017 based on John 20:19-31.)
In our reading this morning, we heard about a disciple named Thomas. People who never knew him have labeled him “doubting Thomas” and he’s had to bear that label for millennia. But I’m pretty sure that’s not what his friends would have called him.
At the time he was also called Didymus. The twin. There’s no record of who his twin was. None at all. And it’s only in John that we see him as an individual. In -
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Blog postGod.
We are cautious.
At least many of us are.
Except maybe about what we like and share.
And even then we make choices more cautiously than people know.
We make decisions out of an abundance of caution.
We are cautiously optimistic.
We are cautious about who we trust or what we commit to do.
Because our hearts have been betrayed, our minds have been deceived.
And we aren’t going to let that happen again.
And so, -
Blog post“Half-hearted praise is no praise at all.” That’s what the worship leader said. He was trying to get us to sing louder, I think, or more enthusiastically. He wanted us to be whole-hearted, all in. “Come on, church.”
I’ve stood where he stands. I may even have offered that call. But I can’t anymore.
It may be a true statement, when talking to an individual, with an awareness of a pattern of half-hearted commitment. The young man who approached Jesus wanting to know ho -
Blog postI know that in the 16 months since I wrote this, much has changed. But I think the point is still worthwhile.
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“I’m so glad we had this six months.”
That’s what the woman said to her sister, talking about the time they’d had since the diagnosis until now. It was a time of clarifying what matters to them, about putting arrangements into place, about tying up loose ends.
I kind of laughed when she said it. Not loud enough for her to hear. I wasn’t laughing at -
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Blog postI wanted to help us laugh today. I searched my archives for “laugh”. I found this and laughed again.
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The challenge made me laugh on Saturday night.
After the first line of a book, add “and then the dragons arrived.”
Suggestions included The Hobbit, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, The Gospel of John, Jane Austin books, Madeleine, Paddington, and books I don’t know.
The point of story is disruption. Things are going along as -
Blog postI wrote this seven years ago.
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Hope and I were driving home from work. We had carpooled, her to the pizza place, me to the church. I picked her up, rolled the window down, and headed home.
It was the first warm Spring day we’d traveled together. I handed her the end of a cable. One end was plugged into the radio. The other was for her phone, full of music.
“What do you want to listen to?” she asked.
“The windows are down,” I said.
And soon Be -
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Blog postRich Dixon has good words for some of us today.
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“But we had hoped that He was the one…”
If I’m honest, I live a lot of my life on Saturday.
Not the fun-and-games teenage Saturday. Not the every day is Saturday – or Thursday – of the pandemic, when days of the week don’t seem to matter.
As a guy who struggles with chronic depression, I know all too well how it felt on the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter. I live a lot of my life on the day whe -
Blog postGod.
Happy Easter.
We would sound more sincere, but
we are grumpy and scared and weary and sad.
Some of us, anyway.
We are like John, a little afraid to look in the tomb.
We are like Peter, looking inside but then going back home and locking the door.
We are like Mary, weeping and not seeing you clearly.
There you are, inviting us to converse, inviting us to breakfast, inviting us to start by simply acknowledging you.
We -
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Titles By Jon Swanson
God. We Still Need You.: A Year of Pandemic Prayer and Practice From a Hospital Chaplain
Mar 23, 2021
by
Jon Swanson
$5.99
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A Great Work: A Conversation With Nehemiah For People (Who Want To Be) Doing Great Works
Nov 29, 2013
by
Jon Swanson
$0.99
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"God. We Need You.": A Year of Prayer in a Hospital Chapel (Resources on Faith, Sickness, Grief and Doubt Book 5)
Jun 21, 2020
by
Jon Swanson
$0.99
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