Jon C. Swanson's Blog, page 5

Working for the good of all.

So there will be tensions that happen when someone chooses to live their life following Jesus.

Not, of course, that following means being mean, being divisive, being demeaning, being critical.

The two greatest commandments are, according to Jesus, to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Too often we hear people who say that they are following Jesus and then are mean and critical and condemning to others.

That’s not the invitation...

Hallmark families

Sometimes as chaplains we have to say tough things.

Perhaps the toughest thing for many families is this:

“Hallmark families don’t exist in the real world.“

You know, families where the story turns out perfect. If there is tension, a card makes it all better. If there are siblings, they may be cranky on the outside, but down deep, they are always together. If there is death, everyone is reconciled and forgiven.

I walk into so many rooms, I have so many conversations, where Hallmar...

A prayer for the twentieth Sunday in ordinary time

God.

We’re stopped now.

Our bodies at rest, sitting or standing, or laying here.

But our minds are not at rest, racing around a track to catch understanding of what is happening, why we are in this situation, now, in this place.

Our hearts are beating faster with the adrenaline of fear of what could have happened, what might happen, what has happened.

We are stopping, but we are not at rest.

We are afraid that for all our work, we do not have good grapes, and so we worry har...

The one who wipes tears.

Some connections to my writing and speaking about grief.

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There is, in the Bible in Revelation 21, an image of tears being wiped away. And no more tears or death or mourning or crying or pain.

It’s a fixture in funerals, it’s a last reading.

I hear it, from time to time, used as a reason to stop feeling bad. “Because of that then, you should feel better now.”

Imagine running up to a cluster of people standing in the hospital parking lot after the death of their mom and wif...

Love and anticipation

So what do we do? If we’ve been given our standing in the kingdom, our place. If we don’t have to worry about making God happy enough to love us, being strong enough to fight our way in, being amazing enough to earn our way in, if we don’t have to worry about all that anymore, what do we do with the time we used to spend in worry and fear?

Do not be afraid. Live in love and anticipation.

Knowing that even though we will die, this life isn’t all there is.

The story Jesus tells is abou...

Chasing Results

Rich Dixon is looking for the heart.

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I love baseball – one of my fondest teenage memories was a trip to see Mickey Mantle and my beloved Yankees in old Yankee Stadium.

Recently I listened as a manager analyzed a struggling player. “He’s too focused on results.”

Wait. He’s a big-league ballplayer, paid handsomely to perform. How can focusing on results be a bad thing?

Turns out, results-focused athletes take shortcuts and develop bad habits. They stop doing the things that m...

little flock.

“Do not be afraid.”

The words before this, though they are not part of our reading today, are worth reading. “Seek God’s kingdom and all these things will be added to you. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.”

What delightful and amazing and amusing words.

The people following Jesus are to pursue the kingdom. Peter and Judas. John and Thomas. Mary and Mary and Mary.

In the face of earthly kingdoms. In the face of opposition and ...

God’s presence arrives quietly

I knock on the door before I walk into hospital rooms. Often when I knock, the people in the room look up with anticipation. Family members stand up. Sometimes they say, “Doctor.”

They have been waiting for news, sometimes for hours. As soon as they see someone older, not in a uniform, they assume that they are getting their news.

When someone says, “Doctor”, I say, “Not the kind you are looking for, I’m the chaplain.” When the looks of anticipation are so great that they seem close to ...

A prayer for the nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

God-

We know that this life we see is not all there is.

We read that in the Bible. We hear that from our friends. We believe it most of the time.

We want to have confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

There is what we see and what we cannot.
There is who we see and You we can’t.
There is where we are and where we will be.

But we confess, we forget that the life we see is not all there is.

In our distraction, we forget. Through our own inattentio...

What if it isn’t my stuff?

It’s not that the farmer was being judged with death for thinking about keeping everything and retiring. Not at all.

It’s that his death was going to show the folly of his choices.

Here’s the heart of the story:

God doesn’t say, “You are dying because of stuff.” He’s saying that more stuff doesn’t keep you from dying. So, what do you want to invest in?

The man thought that the point of life was accumulating stuff. The more stuff, the better life.

Let’s go back to the question. ...