Jon C. Swanson's Blog, page 11

Drafting

Rich Dixon is writing about interdependence.

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Cycling in groups often involves “drafting,” riding closely behind another rider.

When done correctly, the following rider can save as much as 30% of their energy. However, drafting can also be risky. Our FREEDOM TOUR 2018 team talked about this important relationship.

We read Matthew 5:13-16, focusing on this verse:

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father i...

No really. The one anothers you know.

We think of this command of Jesus to love one another, I think, as going out and loving everyone, loving the whole world, loving the unlovely. And we have these big sermons about loving.

But Jesus was sitting in a room with 11 guys around a table. They all knew each other. They were annoyed by each other.

We know that. At almost this same time, James and John had made a request of Jesus that made all the rest upset.

And we know that they were human beings. Humans who have all the ann...

Loving looked like keeping on.

The night before Jesus died, he spent time with his closest followers, the people that were like family to him. He had spent three years with them. They asked him questions. He had told stories. He did miracles and then they did miracles. They walked together all around Israel. They thought they were going to die on a boat. They thought they were going to starve a whole crowd. They knew him and he knew them even better.

And they knew each other.

Peter and Andrew were brothers. John and ...

A prayer for the fifth Sunday of Easter

God.

You invite us to love one another. Actually, it is less an invitation. It’s more like a command.

It’s really hard.

It’s not a command to love the whole world. You do that. It’s not a command to love our enemies. That’s a different command. This is a command to love each other.

You told Peter to love his brother James. You told thoughtful Nathaniel to love loud Peter. You told everyone to love John and James who were trying to get the best seats.

And then the circle expande...

Find your swing.

On love and love and love.

Why talk about this on Mother’s Day? Why have a text that talks about God’s deep love for us which comes before our actions?

Because most of the mothers I know are concerned about being good enough as mothers.

I have heard it from mothers who are close to death, concerned that they have not done a good enough job with their children. Children now in their sixties.

I have heard it from mothers who are just starting out, watching the commercials about being Parkview moms and then strug...

Wisdom And Right Thinking

Rich Dixon is wiser than he admits.

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I told you a while back about Una – Dr. Uname Mulale.

The FREEDOM TOUR 2018 team revisited her inspirational story as we talked about wisdom and right thinking.

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Una had never been on a bike (let that sink in) before she felt God’s call to join our team on a 500-mile tour from Cincinnati to D.C. in July. So, in March she bought a bike and hired a coach to teach her how to ride a bike – in New York City. On Day 1 of the tour, Una cra...

On love and a shepherd.

Love is an expression of unearned, undeserved care.

That’s at the heart of the words that Jesus spoke on a winter’s day in Jerusalem.  He was walking in Solomon’s colonnade, or Solomon’s porch. It was a massive covered walkway on the outside edge of the temple.

He was just there, a person visiting the temple. Some of the religious leaders spotted him. They gathered around him, maybe even cornered him.

“How long are you going to keep us in suspense?” they said. “Are you the messiah?”

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On love and the shepherd and Mother’s day.

For those who know the church calendar, yesterday was the Fourth Sunday of Easter. In the majority of the church, that is all it is. A day when we reflect on the compassionate shepherding of Jesus.

It is not, for the majority of the church, Mother’s Day. That’s not a church holiday, which is probably good. Because it is such a complicated commercial day.

Not that mothers are not important. But there is a danger in creating pictures of what mothers must look like, pictures created throug...

A prayer for the fourth Sunday of Easter

God

We are in a hospital chapel on Mother’s Day.

We need to have tears wiped away from our eyes. None of us wants to be here. Except, perhaps, for those in the Family Birthing Center who have just been through labor and are holding a newborn, healthy and squalling or content.

The rest of us are working rather than celebrating, worrying about treatments, anticipating what may happen before the end of the day.

We’re missing mothers who are gone or who have never been around.

We ...