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AN ONGOING
SPIRITUAL WEBLOG
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February 7, 2010
Super Bowl XLIV is today. The Indianapolis Colts, led
by their superstar quarterback Peyton Manning play against
the New Orleans Saints, a team that is in their first
ever Super Bowl.
This is one of the biggest sporting events every year,
but the event also transcends the game of football. It
is a cultural phenomenon. People have parties and watch
the game, but people also watch and comment on the television
commercials which are often unusual, humorous or profound
(and sometimes duds or overly sexist). It cost a lot of
money to buy time for the game. This year a controversy
has erupted over a pro-life commercial that features Tim
Tebow, a Heisman Trophy-winning American football quarterback
for the Florida Gators (more
here). CBS, the network broadcasting the game, has
been criticized by some pro-choice groups for accepting
the ad. It seems in this age it is hard to stand up for
values in the public arena. If an ad attacks someone and
is hateful or spiteful that is one thing. But if it celebrates
life how can that be wrong?
There are some more articles about the Super Bowl and
things to consider for believers featured on the Power
to Change website - take
a look.
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February 4, 2010
 I'm
a proud grandpa for the very first time! My daughter gave
birth to Jacob Ray yesterday. It was a long, hard process
before he came into the world. She went into labor on
Monday night and after trying very hard for 27 hours a
decision was made to do a Caesarian section to safely
bring the baby into the world. Turns out that was necessary
as he was "stuck" in the birth canal.
All is fine now with the mom, but she is sore (understandably!)
and recovering. My son-in-law has been fantastic and helpful
through it all and is already changing diapers and doting
like only a new father can. All family members are basking
in the glow of new life - God's great gift to us all.
Life is sacred. Please honor it each and every waking
moment.
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February 1, 2010
How do you know if a book is going to be any good before
you read it? Well, I guess you really don't. But you can
find out about a book, read reviews, interviews with the
authors and listen to what others say. The power of a
friend's recommendation is something most of us accept
on a regular basis.
I have not yet read the novel In-Sight
by Gerard D. Webster, but this morning I discovered an
interview with him by Tania E. Ortiz-Lopes. I've been
visiting her blog postings and website for a few years
and her interview with Webster intrigued me (more
here). For one thing, the man has traveled a few different
paths before publishing this first novel (seminary, Peace
Corp, working with addicts and alcoholics, and is married
with children). He's received positive reviews and some
critical acclaim, such as 2009 Readers Favorite Award
in the Fiction-Suspense category and 2nd place in the
2009 Creative Arts Council Book Awards.
The novel is a mystery thriller with a spiritual message
and battle for the protaganist. Ward McNulty, this main
character, is living a self-centered and sinful life and
surrounded by other unsavory characters. Suddenly he develops
an ability to "see" the condition of his soul
- more than just a spiritual insight, rather a new sight.
And the story unfolds from there. You can read more and
the interview with Webster at Tania
Ortiz-Lopes sight.
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January 28, 2010
Do you ever ask yourself, "What are the things I'm
good at?" Critically reflective practice is important
for our spiritual growth. We need to look at what gets
us excited, what talents we bring to the table and how
does God want us to use those talents to make our world
a better place (and glorify God in the process).
Shane Claiborne, a founding partner of The
Simple Way, is one of those people that asks these
questions. And he realizes that despite the inherent suspicion
many of us have of leaders (especially those in political
circles), the answer to bad leadership is not no leadership,
but good leadership.
An interesting conversation along these lines and other
issues is found at this Interview
with Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove on
Friendship and Leadership.
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January 22, 2010
Sanctity of Life - from the womb to the tomb
Today marks the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, which
legalized abortion in the United States. Estimates are
that well over a million abortions still take place each
year in the U.S.
The sanctity of life includes the unborn. But also the
living...and the dying. The womb to the tombexpression
encompasses the fullness of life's sanctity. The gift
of life is precious and sacred.
Today in Santa Fe, New Mexico catholic bishops are gathering
with others to show support for all life with a Sanctity
of Life Awareness & Unity Day. This year's
Respect Life Program theme is "Every Child Brings
Us God's Smile". What a beautiful sentiment.
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January 18, 2010
Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday
Let us turn our thoughts today
To martin luther king
And recognize that there are ties between us
All men and women
Living on the earth
Ties of hope and love
Sister and brotherhood
That we are bound together
In our desire to see the world become
A place in which our children
Can grow free and strong
We are bound together
By the task that stands before us
And the road that lies ahead
We are bound and we are bound
The above lyrics are from a James Taylor song, Shed
a Little Light (you
can hear it on lala.com). The song speaks to the importance
of shedding a light, the kind the Lord can shine on us,
and through us. Martin Luther King, Jr. shined his light,
and like many prophets before him, he was killed. But
his dream did not die.
Fr. Richard Rohr's commentary from his daily
meditation email today asked the question, What
does Martin Luther King’s message tell me about worldly
systems and violence?
His commentary included this quote: "Types like Jesus,
Martin Luther King and Gandhi make difficult enemies for
empires. They cannot be used or co-opted. The powers
that be know that nonviolent prophets are a much deeper
problem because they refuse to buy into the very illusions
that the whole empire is built on, especially the myth
of redemptive violence. Like Jesus, they live instead
a life of redemptive suffering."
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January 15, 2010
Is Haiti Cursed?
The devastation following the 7.0 magnitude earthquake
in Haiti on Tuesday (January 12, 2010) is overwhelming.
Tens of thousands have died, the country is in shambles
and relief efforts are scrambling to help. Fortunately
many Christian organizations, such as Food
for the Poor and Cross
International, already have a presence there.
Despite dealing with their own staff and resource losses
they are spearheading some of the relief.
We are called to help and certainly as Christians we want
to in any way we can when such disaster occurs. The last
thing we should do is be offering up suggestions that
Haiti suffered this earthquake as retribution for something
they did years ago, as Pat Robertson (televangelist
with CBN and the 700 Club) claims with his ridiculous
and hurtful claim that Haiti is cursed because of a pact
the slaves made with the devil back in 1791. This is just
another in a long line of outlandish claims Robertson
has made over the year, serving up the image of a vengeful
God. That's not the God I, or a multitude of other Christians,
believe in. CBN has a press
release statement on their site to counter-spin some
of the fallout over Robertson's statements (see here).
Even if Pat Robertson is not saying the earthquake is
the result of God's wrath and that he has compassion for
the suffering people there, he still implies something
that is terribly inappropriate. (See good story and background
of Haitian slave rebellion at Democracy
for New Mexico site)
Haiti is not cursed, at least not by God. It is a very
poor country that has suffered a lot and been taken advantage
of by richer countries over the year. But there is also
a lot of great Christian charity at work there. Red
Letter Christians blog has a posting with a number
of excellent suggested relief agencies. You can also visit
our Spotlight
Causes for more info.
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January
14, 2010
Christianity and How Some Christians Act
It is an uncomfortable fact that many people have a problem
with Christianity because of the way so-called Christians
act. If you ask these people what they think, most of
them would reply about how hypocritical they think Christians
are. Or self-righteous and judgmental. Surely not qualities
that people who know anything about the gospels would
say to describe Jesus Christ. It seems that we, the Christians
who are to be witnesses to the world, are giving God and
Jesus a bad name.
The answer to this public relations problem is not to
go out and try to convince people through persuasive arguments
and preaching that they are living the wrong way and doomed
to hell if they don't choose Jesus as their personal Lord
and Savior. The answer is to do what St.
Francis, and many other holy people through the
ages, have done. They lived the Gospel. They really followed
Jesus and spent time with the less fortunate, loved them,
loved their enemies and praised God in all areas of their
lives.
John Fischer (writer, musician, Christian family
man and commentator) gets me thinking about such things
(visit his Catch
of the Day. In particular read the December 2,
2009 entry). Also, Shaine Claiborne is good at
"walking the talk" of Jesus with his the
simple way community. I've heard him speak and
he's very passionate, and yet simple and humble, in his
approach. You might want to see what he wrote for Esquire
Magazine, when asked to contribute an article to his non-Christian
friends (What
If Jesus Meant All That Stuff?).
Maybe we just get too distracted. Maybe we are too hard
on ourselves and others. Maybe we are too lazy. Or we
maybe we are not convinced that the Way
of Jesus is the Truth. Until we are convinced
we rarely take action that changes the way we live. I'm
not talking about being convinced we are right and know
it all. That is arrogance. I'm speaking of faith and the
conviction that the way of our Christian faith is God's
will for Christian believers, even when we have doubts.
Or especially when we have doubts. Because in the end,
we cannot think our way into right living. We have
to live our way into right thinking.
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January 12, 2010
It can be frustrating dealing with things beyond our control.
But if we cannot accept the things we cannot change we
set ourselves up for frustration, anger and resentment.
The past few days the livingthesolution.com site has been
unavailable. It was due to a technical situation with
our web hosting company, but it is now resolved. Apologies
to all who tried to log on recently and could not pull
up our site. Thank you for staying with us. Sometimes
things happen that require time to fix. I got a lesson
in patience, but I'm grateful that I have learned to calmly
(most of the time) face challenges and take steps to deal
with it. If only I could do that better in some other
areas of my life - especially in relationships. I do know
what to do about that - pray for wisdom, guidance and
willingness.
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Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy
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by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton,
IL 60189, USA. All rights reserved.
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