Jon C. Swanson's Blog, page 39

A prayer for the fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

God.

We are here.
You are here, too.

Although that’s backwards.

You are here.
We are here, too.

For longer than I can remember,
longer than my parents could remember,
longer than any living person can remember,
you are here.

Before these buildings,
before any buildings,
before any person began building,
you are here.

Before my worries, as small as they are,
before any worries in this building as big as they are,
before any person began keeping notes,
you are here.

Not to shame us f...

Keep me soft

Wow.

I’ve been hit by my need to be less judgmental, over and over. My pride keeps rising to the surface at every turn.

I drove down the street and saw a license plate with the “wrong” saying, and I judged.A friend did an amazing thing for another friend. The recipient didn’t say thanks so I shouted inside.I passed a massive home, knowing only two people live there. Judgement.I heard someone say something I think is overly critical, and I get critical of them.

I could g...

Apparently, you have to read.

Hey friend-

In Fort Wayne, there’s a great used book store called Hyde Brothers. I seldom visit. But with fake internet friends in town last May, we visited.

I found Eugene Peterson’s book, Practice Resurrection: A conversation on growing up in Christ. I thought, “I’ve tried reading this and it hasn’t worked. I bet it’s because I have the ebook version.” I struggle to read serious books on a Kindle.

I bought it.

I laughed when I got home and discovered that I had two other copies ...

Helmets up!

Rich Dixon catches us up on the riding!

+++

It was time to begin FREEDOM TOUR 2013.

Our hardy little team, accompanied by some friends who came to ride with and support us on the first leg of the journey, gathered in Cheyenne. We began a tradition that’s continued through every ride for 12 years.

HELMETS UP! We gather in a circle, raise our bike helmets, and pray. The purpose is simple.

The beginning of a ride gets chaotic. Lots of energy, everyone’s excited. It’s easy to lose ...

What I think I’ve learned, a short list.

Hey friend.

Lots of younger people write “20 things I’ve learned in 20 years” or “40 things in 40 years.” When you get to 66, the lists get long. The older you get, the less confident you are about what you have actually learned.

With Rich writing on Wednesdays, I’ll write my birthday post a day early. I’ll tell you six things I’m reasonably confident that I’ve observed.

1. Most of the things I worried would happen haven’t. (What I anticipated negative consequences for or allowed to ...

On letting go of the pager.

The other day at (hospital) work, I reflected on carrying a pager.

When we chaplains are working, we carry pagers and respond to the pages. We can never, or at least I can never, plan our days beyond, “If I have a chance, I’ll do that, depending on the pager.” Even when talking with a family in the moments after a death, we are carrying a pager, aware of the world outside this moment. Our priority is here. But we are also aware of there. Because the trauma arriving may be, has been, our ne...

A prayer for the fourteenth Sunday in ordinary time

God.

We are confused.

People talk about being blessed.
That usually means they are getting better, they are getting stronger, they are getting richer, they are getting parking places.

We read about David the king becoming more powerful because you were with him.
He was blessed.

But then we read about Paul who was weak and insulted and persecuted and unpopular.

Where David had a fortress, Paul was captive in many fortresses.
Where David had an army, Paul was arrested by the army.
Wh...

A prayer for the thirteenth Sunday in ordinary time.

God.

The song writer talks about waiting for you more than watchmen wait for the morning.
The song writer asks you to listen for, to pay attention to, our cry for mercy.

All we hear are babbling voices of critics and commenters,
of condemnation and consumption and comparison.

We can barely try to hear you.

We desperately hope that you can hear us,
that you will chose to care about us.
We forget, perhaps, that you are not distracted by social media,
that our petty partisanship and natio...

A prayer for the twelfth Sunday in ordinary time

God.

Sometimes it feels like knowing you is a good thing.

We ask you favors, we receive favors, we say we are blessed.

But we have to confess that sometimes, knowing you feels rough.

We ask you favors, we still are sick.

We give up fun, thinking it’s for you, our dad still dies.

We sing about you being a loving father, we don’t know where ours is.

We know that David was loved by you.

We see that David was hated by Saul, nearly to death over and over.

We know that Pa...

A prayer for the eleventh Sunday in ordinary time

God.

It’s Father’s Day.

At least in the United States.

And you know more than anyone how confusing that is. How much misunderstanding and frustrated expectation there is on every side. How much gratitude and repentance and forgiveness there could be on every side.

And so we ask for your help.

That’s all.

I could enumerate all the kinds of help we need, but each of us in our relationships doesn’t need another list of expectations or assumptions. We need your help. We need you...