Jon C. Swanson's Blog, page 315

What are you looking for

I went to the gym. I heard a great offer on the phone. I wanted to see if it was true. I met Sam. She said, “What are you looking for?” I told her about my fitness journey. She told me what the gym could do to help.

Jesus was near by John (the one who baptized) (John 1). John pointed to Jesus. A couple of John’s followers followed Jesus. “What are you seeking,” he asked. They told him they wanted to know where he was staying, where he was teaching. He told them to come with him.

Jesus was stand...

Stir up the fire

(A reflection on 2 Timothy 1:6-7)

Dear Timothy:

I was just remembering our travels visiting churches. We had my tent, but those cold nights by the fire. You, me, Luke, others. We talked about Jesus, about following.

Remember how the fire would burn down, til there were just coals? If someone sat close, it was warm. But just sitting around the circle, we started to get cool, to get distracted.

But then you moved closer to the fire. You wanted to be helpful, so you moved the logs around. You knocke...

Recognizing the voice of Jesus, part 2

See part 1 yesterday

Jesus talks a lot in John, to a lot of different people, many of whom are identified by name. In the first chapter he talks to his first followers. In chapter two, he talks with his mom, with his followers. And then he makes a public spectacle, showing how he sounds to people who are wronging God and other people. In chapter three, he talks to a scholar. And a prophet, who was also a relative, talks about him. In chapter four, he talks with a marginalized woman. In chapter...

Recognizing the voice of Jesus, part 1

It’s a common question for people learning to pray: ”What am I doing wrong?” It comes when we are asking God for clarity about something. It can be general: “Help me know what to do.” It can be specific: “Help me know the career, the next step, the right relationship.” It can be spiritual: “Help me love you.” Or even, “Are you there?”

We ask and ask and ask and sense no clear answer. We know that it’s possible that we may be missing the answers. We know we may not be listening right. And we ar...

Hope rides shotgun. A reflection for Easter Monday.

Hope and I were driving home from work. We had carpooled, her to the pizza place, me to the church. I picked her up, rolled the window down, and headed home.

It was the first warm Spring day we’d traveled together. I handed her the end of a cable. One end was plugged into the radio. The other was for her phone, full of music.

“What do you want to listen to,” she asked.

“The windows are down,” I said.

And soon Ben Rector was singing about summer. Very loud. Through scratchy speakers. We smiled.

It’...

That Friday.

(Part of a post first published April 22, 2011)

There is a luxury in historical hindsight, an ability to see the lessons without going through the event. And it is that hindsight that named this morning Good. In real time, on the ground in Jerusalem, there was nothing good about spittle mixed with blood. There was nothing good about a suicidal man, remorse-ridden. There was nothing good about a group of people accepting guilt–and that momentary statement being used as the justification for gen...

Another look at Peter

“His robe was spotted with blood. A head wound of any kind is messy, and Peter had cut off a man’s ear. He probably had never used a sword before, “

That’s how I was going to start telling the story of Peter denying that he knew Jesus. I was pretty sure about the blood. I’ve watched enough CSI to know about spatter. But when I started thinking about the sword, I stopped. Was it a broadsword as we think of swords from the movies of the knights? Or was it a long knife, the kind that a fisherman...

Finding Easter (stories)

(First published April 9, 2009)

I struggle with remembering where things are in the Bible. I struggle with remembering details of stories. I remember ideas and images in sweeping references.

I’m not alone.

Some days, it’s helpful to review, to go back to the familiar images and read the actual story again.

This is a good week for reviewing.

Today? Some images that have worked their way into popular culture.

1. Washing one’s hands of a matter

Pilate was a Roman governor of Israel. He could decide dea...

Holy Week PSA.

(First published April 14, 2011)

This is a public service reminder.

We are in what is known as Holy Week. During this week, in churches everywhere, there will be an unusual number of public services. There were be public services on Palm Sunday. There will be public services on Maundy Thursday. There will be public services on Good Friday morning, afternoon, and evening. There will be public (vigil) services on Saturday evening. There will be several services on Easter Sunday.

As a result of the...

Supper guests.

It’s hard to be original around Easter. Everything has been said and is being said and will be said, in thousands of sermons and blogposts, books and status updates. I’ve even said some of it myself, in a Lent book, in five years of posting here.

But maybe novelty isn’t the point of Easter. Maybe after we are done with all the varieties of Peeps (including dark chocolate covered this year), we shake the cobwebs out of our hearts and look back at the story of the week.

We know that this was a we...