Jon C. Swanson's Blog, page 17

May I Help?

Rich Dixon is thinking about help.

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After nearly 4 decades as a wheelchair user, I’m still uncomfortable accepting help.

Weird, I know, because I obviously can’t accomplish some tasks by myself. The FREEDOM TOUR ‘17 team talked through this odd personal quirk.

We began by discussing service. Jesus said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”

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One of our team members made a pretty frank observation: I think as Christians we freq...

Staying connected.

Jesus knew who he was. At his baptism, His Father had just told him. “This is my son, whom I love. With him I am well pleased.”

It was a wonderful way to start a ministry career. But right after that experience, Jesus was taken into the wilderness, into the rocks and hills and barrenness. And he didn’t eat for forty days.

We call it fasting. It’s an example of the reason Lent is 40 days, that Lent is marked by fasting. There is a connection with the example of Jesus.

Some of the time...

Blessing those who follow you.

I thought I wrote to you once about my friend Don. I can’t find anything, though that doesn’t mean I didn’t write about him.

Don used to read 300wordsaday. And occasionally, he’d send me a note.

The first one I find in my inbox is from 2013:

Thanks Jon, for allowing me to read your daily comments on God’s Word in so many different modern day contexts.  It is a big boost to me in seeing how the Scriptures so powerfully apply to all kinds of situations.  You both challenge and encoura...

A prayer for the first Sunday in Lent

God.

Sometimes we simply don’t know what you want.

If we knew, for sure, we’d do it. Maybe.
But we feel like we don’t know what you want.
And we worry that we will do the wrong thing
or the right thing for the wrong reasons.

We worry about keeping you happy and not making you mad.

We worry.

If we don’t keep you happy, you won’t do the things that make us happy.
Like healing our loved one. Like giving us work. Like fixing our relationships.

So we try to make you happy and get mad...

Jesus, I am resting, resting

I grew up going to churches where we sang hymns. Almost all churches sang just hymns back then.

One of my favorites back then was “Jesus, I Am Resting, Resting,” by Jean Sophia Pigott, written in 1876.

I looked it up and enjoyed reading the lyrics:

Jesus, I am resting, resting
in the joy of who you are;
I am finding out the greatness
of your loving heart.
You have bid me gaze upon you,
as your beauty fills my soul,
for by your transforming power,
you have made me whole.

The lyrics and t...

No glow, but still with us.

The glory faded. Moses and Elijah disappeared. And Jesus continued to walk around with people who didn’t understand everything they had seen, who didn’t live as if they believed what he said.

But even though the glow faded, the presence of God did not. Jesus was with them. Jesus was working on them, instructing them, correcting them, loving them.

And that is still true.

Jesus left the disciples on another mountain several months later. He had been killed, buried, and rose again. He t...

A different 300

Rich Dixon reminds us of process.

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During our conversation about trajectories and interruptions, Becky reminded us of “300 TOUCHES.”

300 TOUCHES is the notion that most folks require multiple interactions before they finally drop their defenses, before they are willing to truly listen, before they open their hearts. Nothing special about the number 300 (unless you’re talking about words-per-day). It’s a simple reminder – that final “touch” most likely followed numerous conversatio...

33 things to change for Lent.

More than a decade ago, I started thinking about what we could give up for Lent. Or better, what we could move toward. The list turned into Lent for Non-Lent People: 33 things to give up for Lent and other readings. I’m grateful for the people who have found that book helpful.

I decided that it might be useful for me (and maybe for you) to revisit the list today. Tomorrow, March 5, is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. It may be that one or the other of these will be helpful in thinkin...

A story of a bright meeting.

Jesus went up on the mountain, away from the crowds. He’s on a wandering journey, keeping the disciples away from Jerusalem, away from the people who might want to kill him. He’s training the disciples, teaching them how to open the things he’s commanding.

And on this day, he takes Peter and James and John with him, up on a mountain, to pray.

Because yesterday was transfiguration Sunday, and the really cool part of the story is Jesus glowing, we skip over what happened. They went up on ...

A prayer for Transfiguration.

God.

Most of us don’t glow.

We talk to you, sometimes, with grief and questions,
with confidence and confusion,
with hopes and fears for ourselves and others.

When we say amen and turn to the people near us,
we don’t need to put a mask over our face to keep them from being blinded.

We seldom look in the mirror and think,
“I’ve got a special glow.”

So when we read about Moses needing to cover his face,
we’re not sure what to think.

We want to believe it’s possible that as we talk ...