Rod White's Blog, page 54

Fighting a Good Fight

The instinct for leadership is necessary on a lot of levels. Classroom teachers need it. Parents of toddlers need it. Neighborhood organizers need it. Our cell leaders, team leaders and leadership team among Circle of Hope are working it out constantly. It is not that easy to lead.

Lately we have been having a series of discussions about an interesting conflict of mentality. Let's be very simple about it:

How does one organize a new team (like a cleaning team or a mission to prisoners)? Do...

It's a Depression

The story goes that one of the young brothers among the desert monks went to an elder and asked, "Would it be right if I kept a little money in my possession, in case I should get sick?"
            The elder, seeing that he wanted to keep the money, said, "Keep it."
            The brother went back to his place and began to wrestle with his thoughts, saying "I wonder if the elder really gave me his blessing. So he went back and asked him, "In the Lord's name, tell me the truth, because I am...

Agree to Reconcile

Abba Agatho used to say: "If one is able to revive the dead, but is not willing to be reconciled to his neighbor – it is better to leave the dead in the grave."

Paul said about the same thing as Abba Agatho in 1 Corinthians 13, but we already domesticated Paul's lines into something we'd find in a fortune cookie. So let's stick with Agatho.

Hopefully, what he said will stick with us. Because the thing that kills churches most effectively is the unwillingness of Christians to reconcile. We...

Stop Eating that Damned Apple (Please)

I want you to know…that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any human, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. Galatians 1:11-12

I have been talking to several cell leaders who feel like their cells are drowning in discussion fomented by people who would probably kick people out of their "Bible study" if they said something like Paul said to the Galatians, above. A lot of these dear complainees went to a...

Lessons in Spiritual Depth from Paul

I have received a lot of mentoring from the Apostle Paul — from my first real reading of the New Testament as a teenager, I felt a deep kinship with him. My thought was then, and still is, that, "If Paul can do it, so can I." He is so obviously a real guy, with all his gifts and limitations in action. He has a personality that shows through. And God uses him.

Oldest image of Paul, 4th C., From Catacomb of St. Thekla in Rome

I look at the accounts of Paul in Acts and what he writes in his...

Kevin and the Thin Places

Today is St. Kevin's Day, so I thought I would post a piece a shared in 2008 after I got back from my Celtic pilgrimage. For those who have time for quite a bit of reading, enjoy!

One Sunday at our meeting I met a nice woman who said that she used to live in South Philly but felt that God released her to go live in the burbs. Now she just loves going out her kitchen door and hearing the creek running through her back yard.
 
That's nice. When she meditates out there and meets God, she's...

A Psalm for Memorial Day

A simple psalm to spur some thoughts of love on the day we mourn for all the people who have died from the lack of it. 

Even in the room with the wedding

there were conflicts worthy of a Memorial Day.

The wars of the world

are personal bad blood writ large

and the blood we carry

is the war in the world writ small.

So even on the weekend of remembrance
it is not dishonoring to remember
the wars in our souls,
even though no one may spill our blood
and the injuries we cause
are hidden, internal...

The P for Pentecost

In the acrostic of the year

the "P" for Pentecost

is mainly for patience,

or persevering in the practice

of being "empty, open, choiceless

as a beach waiting

for a gift from the sea."

The waves beat, "Patience…patience."

But I seem to have dug up sand

and acquired treasure,

or it has been delivered to my door

to make me full, fenced, fretful

as a wedding planner waiting

for the bride to arrive.

In the history of God's gifting,
the patience is primary;
the fretting follows,
or apostles would have o...

Principle Christianity Is Too Easy to Choke

But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. Luke 8:15

The Lord's parable of the sower is a hopeful story. But no more hopeful than creation itself, in which a single seed actually does result in many more seeds, even hundreds of seeds.

But it is also a starkly truthful story, and that can feel very discouraging. Because some seeds don't take root, some are eaten by birds, and some, even when they take r...

Tasers and John Doe Graves

I'm glad I am not the only worried one. The national media wandered into a couple of territories with which I am familiar recently: Citizen's Bank Park and Imperial Valley, CA. They told some disturbing, important truths about where our country is headed.

Jacob and I were at the Phillies game when the teenager got tasered by the Philadelphia policeman. A hush fell over the crowd where I was, followed by boos. I don't think any of us knew quite what to think as we saw the kid fall on the...