Rod White's Blog, page 55

Meeting Fatigue

One of my friends told me, last night (at the public meeting), that he wasn't at a meeting we had mutually agreed to attend because he'd "had enough Circle of Hope meetings" that week. In his case that seemed pretty accurate. But he had counted a birthday party, a personal conversation with someone with whom he was working out conflict and dinner with friends one night, too, I think.

It can be pretty discouraging when your life turns into a series of meetings! When a toddler party turns into a...

Brokenness

I have been pondering a quote from Gene Edwards in Celtic Daily Prayer for the last few days. It is about being broken. I took the word "broken" to mean being "useless," like being broken down at the side of the road, or being broken off from the vine, like Jesus warns us not to be.

Edwards says that the broken man is not rebellious. He is at peace with his circumstances, not rebelling against what other people do to him and certainly not rebellious against what God has brought to him.

As a...

Partnership

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now…Philippians 1:3-5

When I first parachuted into Philadelphia, my conviction was that I was sent to catalyze a group of partners who were already in town and build the next generation of the church with them for the next generation of people. I found them. To be honest, it was a little shocking to see my conviction come to...

My Mother the Saint

Precious in the sight of the LORD

is the death of his saints.

O LORD, truly I am your servant;

I am your servant, the son of your maidservant;

you have freed me from my chains.

I will sacrifice a thank offering to you

and call on the name of the LORD. Psalm 116:15-17

My mother was no saint, according to her own definition. She chose which vices to maintain and maintained them with some deliberation. She won a jackpot at Laughlin while practicing her sacred gambling, tried to hide it from the I...

Pray and Not Faint…again

This morning, I woke up to one of those dreams with a cast of thousands. Gwen and I were going to some show at some stadium and I had a part in it. But I had forgotten my script in the room, so I went dashing back to get it. Halfway to the room I realized I had no keys and no time to get back to Gwen and no cell phone to call her and no idea where I was and no one would help me for various reasons, etc. It was a good, frustrating dream about anxieties and inabilities trying to find a way to t...

Being a WE as the BIC

Saturday, Scot McKnight spoke to the Atlantic Conference of the Brethren in Christ. It was a good, engaging couple of speeches based on The Jesus Creed. I was glad to meet one of my FB friends face to face.

Here's the "Jesus creed" from Mark 12:

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of  all  the commandments, which is the most important?"

"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: `Hear, O Israel...

Prayer for Recognition

Everyone feels spring rushing up.

We praise you for the daffodils,

The flowers that bloom with snowless joy.

Our winter was too long.

The snow was too deep.

We were not sure it would melt.

The despair had caught us.

The atmosphere groans with your hidden glory.

We praise you for the moments,

The moments we can bear to enter it.

Very few feel the suffering behind the bloom.

We praise you for your humility,

The food that feeds the flower, the fire that melts.

Your winter is long.
The snow is still s...

Devising Ways for Reconciliation

Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him." 2 Samuel 14

I was happy to speak to a great "audience" on Sunday at the Madison Street Church. One of their great gifts to the world is to accept someone as they are and envelope them  in their long love for each other. I was happy to have been there at the beginning of that love and to still be...

A Chance to Submit to the Past

     And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?"

      "I'm running away from my mistress Sarai," she answered.

 Then the angel of the LORD told her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her." The angel added, "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count."… Genesis 16:8ff

I am moved to take Circle of Hope's reading for this day of Lent another direction. I am tempted to run away from my "mistress." Maybe you are ...

Expecting Daffodils

Gwen and I often share "psalms" with one another. She appreciated my little, Lenten, snow-day meditation, so I thought you might be able to use it, too.

When trouble comes, I will persist

in looking for a sprouting crocus.

I will stubbornly listen

for a bird singing in the cold.

And yes, I will feel a bit guilty.
I will stand before the sadness tribunal
and be judged out of order.
I will be questioned by the magistrate of misery
and have no answer for my happiness.
The logic of the law of the land w...