Jon C. Swanson's Blog, page 30

A prayer for the thirtieth Sunday in ordinary time

God.
We need you.

We think we need you to.
As if we have any idea what needs to happen.
We know what we want. But that’s different.

God.
We need you.

We think you need us. To do your work, to bring your kingdom, to punish and poke and overpower. You do need us, of course. To be quiet and to listen to you.

God.
We need you.

Because in you we live and move and have our being.
We need you because you have made us and not we ourselves. And we are weary from making and remaking ourselves....

With you.

I have things I say often. Like when Jesus is ascending and says to the disciples, “I’m with you always, even to the end of the age.”

I say that most often when I’m with people who need to know that God is with them. Whether or not it’s felt. I don’t persuade, I don’t scold. I simply remind us both of the promise of Jesus.

The other day, I was standing with a person in pain. We were conversing. I spoke of that promise.

He said, “My wife’s heart stopped.”

Clearly, it had started ag...

Getting closer doesn’t mean getting easier. Exactly.

When they made their special request to Jesus, James and John weren’t in any kind of crisis. In fact, things were looking up. They were heading toward Jerusalem with Jesus. The crowds were getting bigger. They were getting close to Jesus. Never mind that he was talking about dying before entering into his kingdom. They heard that he was heading for a kingdom and they wanted a piece, a place.

Because that’s what we’re promised, right? If we are close to Jesus, everything will be happy. Eve...

Lessons Learned

When Rich Dixon learns lessons, so do we.

+++

Last time, I relearned an important lesson – the FREEDOM TOUR isn’t about me.

While I was off doing my TED Talk, Becky and the team pulled off our first one-day ride just fine. That day also taught us another important lesson – we don’t have to see the end before we begin.

Like everything else we’ve started, we didn’t really know what we were doing. Since we aren’t “event organizers,” we just asked people if they wanted to join us for ...

Looking ahead to Advent.

I’m taking a day for a brief commercial message. Since other advent calendar products are coming out, I decided to mention a couple that may be less chocolate oriented and more helpful.

I’ve written a couple books that are helpful around Advent time. That’s the season before Christmas. It starts on December 1, 2024.

Saint John of the Mall: Reflections for the Advent season

The first is a series of conversations with Saint John of the Mall. Written back when Nancy and I walked at the...

Just the right time(s)

I worry about timing a lot.

It’s part of the idea of kairos, an awareness of the moment. The discipline to notice the person and the situation and the need in this moment and to choose the content that fits here and now.  (I wrote more about it once.)

I work hard to get just the right words at just the right time.

I even try for that here at 300words. I write words, I schedule them to be sent out at 1 am to one group of subscribers and at 6 am to another group of subscribers. The goa...

A prayer for the twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

God.

People will die today. In this building, in this community, in this world.

People will be born, today, too. In this building, in this community, in this world.

The rest of us will be living between birth and death.

We will be remembering, some of us, those who are gone.

We will be longing for, some of us, those who are coming.

And we will, many of us, we confess, be uncertain about the best ways, the most useful, the most meaningful, the most successful ways, to live.

...

We cannot keep up. And should stop trying.

Recently, while I was sick, I was talking with myself about taking with God about my cold.

I was struggling with cough and congestion and not sleeping. And at the same time, people I care about were waiting to see what direction a hurricane would go. How close it would come to their house? And, at the same time, people I don’t know but still care about were living without electricity and potable water. And at the same time, people I don’t know were having fears and attacks I don’t know ab...

A reflection on sparrows

Ben loves to feed the birds in our back yard.

Or, more accurately, he loves working alongside one grandparent or another. They pour seeds from a big bag into smaller jugs, saved from their original use as litter jugs for the cats Ben’s growing up with. The pouring involves an oversize funnel, a big scoop. And Ben’s help is, occasionally, helpful. But it is always active.

Grandparents carry the jug to the bird feeder hanging on the wrought-iron plant stand. Ben carries the funnel. Some...

Absent

Rich is always trying new things. And in this one, you will get to listen to him!

+++

We decided to try something new for the third FREEDOM TOUR.

The first 2 years were 500-mile tours. 2015 was the first year we added a one-day ride. A bunch of people signed up – and I wasn’t there!

The previous fall, I saw an online invitation to submit applications for a local TED event. TED Talks feature experts on a wide variety of topics under their subtitle: Ideas Change Everything. Local ev...