Jon C. Swanson's Blog, page 19

She did what she could.

Her name and her backstory are lost.

There’s speculation, of course. There is always speculation about the things we don’t know from things we read in the Bible.

What we know is that people who were threatened by what Jesus was saying and doing were trying to stop him. The religious leaders were trying to kill him, but without causing a riot.

On one particular day, three miles from Jerusalem, Jesus was at supper. A woman poured expensive perfume on his head. People complained to eac...

A prayer for the sixth Sunday after the Epiphany

God.

We aren’t very good with choices.

It’s hard to choose between the best thing for us and the best thing for others.

Choosing the right voices to listen to is hard. There are so many voices and so many options and so many things going wrong.Choosing the right people to follow is hard. There are so many people who claim to be right and so many people who mess up. Including ourselves.

And then we struggle with deciding between trusting you and trusting ourselves.

We con...

A deep breath.

A week ago Tuesday, I told you I was taking a breath. Since then, I’ve done a bunch of stuff. And had a cold.

In my earlier days of writing here, I probably would have scheduled reruns or kept writing anyway. Anything to avoid silence on this channel. Because, after all, the very name of the blog includes a commitment. 300words A DAY.

But as I wrote to my friend Rich the other day, “The last couple weeks have had more output than reflection.”

I do my best to repurpose words and idea...

The Storm

Rich Dixon is back on the road.

+++

Let’s get back to bike tours.

During FREEDOM TOUR 2017, our team talked about storms. Jesus said we can expect storms, and spoke about preparing for them.

It’s good to know your eternal house will withstand the storm, but earthly storms are still nasty and painful – no matter how well we prepare. I told a personal story.

A couple of years after I left, my small Iowa hometown experienced a horrific tornado. As I helped some friends clean up, ...

A prayer for the fifth Sunday after the Epiphany

God.

Isaiah wrote your words in a scroll, more than almost anyone else in the Old Testament.  and those words are quoted throughout the New Testament.

Paul wrote your words in letters that we still read, over and over. His letters shape much of our thinking about what church could be.

Peter wrote some more of the New Testament. But he was also the leader in the earliest days of the church.

And all of them talk about how insignificant and unworthy they are.

If they aren’t any go...

Personal. Letter.

“Here is my greeting in my own handwriting—Paul. I do this in all my letters to prove they are from me.”

The most prolific letter writer in the New Testament is Paul. In 2 Thessalonians 3:17, he wrote that – with his own hand. Sadly, digital preservation techniques were not in use back then.

I’ve always loved writing letters – with my own hand. There’s something I love about using a fine-quality pen to scribble a few thoughts on paper and send that letter to a friend.

Maybe it’s the...

Feeling Powerless

Rich Dixon is here. I’m grateful.

+++

Following up on last time, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and confronting the face of evil.

For followers of Jesus, turning away and staying silent isn’t an option. So, now what?

“The essence of following Jesus can be found in living out The Sermon on the Mount .” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

Okay, let’s start there. And suppose we all agree that God isn’t worried.

But… I still FEEL POWERLESS to do anything about injustice.

What’s that about? I’m not ...

Take a breath.

I’m not at Whitefish Point, though I’d love to be.

I’m helping with some funerals and teaching about grief these days. So I’m taking a couple days off writing.

Rich will be here tomorrow. I’ll be back soon.

And if you’ve never looked at my weekly newsletter, “Finding Words in Hard Times”, I’d love for you to.

Jon

Sometimes church is dumb. God isn’t.

Here’s what I said as part of a funeral service the other day.

+++

Your mom was, as you said, spiritual. She let me pray for her at the hospital.

But I’m aware that none of us go to the church building where some of us first met.

And we’ve got questions about people who say they are representing God but then we think, “Apparently, God’s got a pretty incompetent HR department.”

One day, Jesus and his disciples were in a boat. Jesus was, understandably, exhausted. He fell asleep ...

A prayer for the fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

God.

You invite us into relationship with you.
You send us to do your work.
We don’t feel worthy of either one.

Except sometimes.

Sometimes we expect you to help us work on our terms.
We demand your love on our terms.
We say, “If you really loved us, you would fix this, you would change them, you would leave me alone.” We say, “I’m doing this for you, so you should do that for me.”
We say that we can’t believe in a God like we are told you are.

But when we stop and talk with you, we ha...