Jon C. Swanson's Blog, page 50

A thought for direction for Lent

“How do you want to be when you grow up?”

I was talking with a couple of high school seniors. They were asking some questions about resources. I like to have context for the recommendations I make. So I asked “How do you want to be when you grow up?”

They looked at me quizzically. “Can you tell me more?”

I could ask “What do you want to be?” But that’s an almost pointless question for a high school senior. Or for a mid-fifties executive pastor. As a high school student, I couldn’t ha...

A return visit.

“The last time I was in this chapel, I was praying for my son to be healed.”

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The man was walking out as Nancy and I were walking into the hospital chapel for our weekly service.

Every Sunday morning for several years, from 10:30 to 10:57, the camera is on in this chapel. I welcome people, read scripture, pray the prayers that show up at 300wordsaday.com each Sunday, and speak. Nancy plays the piano for a prelude and postlude and plays two hymns after I read the lyrics. I used to ...

A prayer for Transfiguration Sunday

God.

We want to see you.

At the end of the bed, in the chair in the corner, over by the door, we would love to see you.

Just one clear glimpse of you.

Talking with us. Looking at us. Being with us.

We want to see you.

It might let us know that things will be okay, even though they are hard right now.

It might let us know that you know we are here, that you know how hard things are.

It might let us give you a piece of our mind, a lament, the pain of our heart.

Paul t...

A series on a story of healing – four

We’re walking through a series of reflections on Mark 1:29-39. (Part one) (Part two) (Part three)

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Here is the really hard thing. God’s deepest desire is relationship with us.  What breaks that relationship is our demanding relationship on our terms, rather than accepting God’s terms.

He faced and experienced death for the sake of that relationship.

Sometimes he provides physical healing, but it’s not a measure of his power or love. And the presence of illness is not a measure ...

A series on a story of healing – three

We’re walking through a series of reflections on Mark 1:29-39. (Part one) (Part two)

But doesn’t healing help us feel better about following him?

Actually, no it doesn’t. Not necessarily.

There is another story about Jesus healing 10 men of their skin disease. Only one of them comes back to thank him. There would have been a few hundred people in Capernaum that day. As he went from town to town in the area, by the time we get to the feeding of the thousands, there were thousands who ...

Hope On Wheels

One last story from Rich Dixon about the ride where we first met.

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Last time, a “random” encounter – Jesus wasn’t finished using our ride.

The brawny man and his two sisters saw our trailer. While I used the hospital restroom, they asked Becky to tell them about “Hope on Wheels.”

I joined them and we chatted until Becky’s phone summoned her to finalize a weekend speaking event.

This trio looked exhausted. I asked what was happening.

They arrived eighteen days earlier whe...

A series on a story of healing – two

We’re walking through a series of reflections on Mark 1:29-39. (Part one was yesterday.)

Did he heal everyone who was sick in the town?

Maybe. Capernaum was a town of maybe 1500 people. The text said that the whole town showed up, all the sick and demon-possessed, and that many people were healed. The people who were there that night were healed, and the evil spirits were driven out of people.

It could be that everyone who was chronically or acutely ill was brought. If that was 1 of ...

A series on a story of healing – one

The Gospel text for this Sunday was Mark 1:29-39. I decided to share some of my reflections on that text over the next few days.

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I gotta tell you. This particular story about Jesus healing people is one of the hardest stories for a hospital chaplain. It raises questions about “why not me?” that are challenging. And when we answer them, the answers aren’t exactly comforting. Because we have to look at “why not everyone?” And “are you healing anyone?”

It’s a story that we would lo...

A prayer for the fifth Sunday after the Epiphany

God.

We started our time together today telling each other “how good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!”

It may be good. But it is often hard.

We struggle with praises when we are unsure where the money is coming from for this bill. We struggle with praises when we are scared about the outcome of the tests. We struggle with praises when we are brokenhearted and wounded.

But we are not always struggling.

The invitation is to remember in our...

Totally worth asking

I have been reading about Hudson Taylor, a British missionary to China in the 1800s.

There are so many amazing stories during his life about how God worked in answer to prayer. Most of them revolve around his prayers, but this significant story is about the prayers of his mom and sister.

At age 15, Hudson left his faith in the ditch. He got a job as a bank clerk and started listening to -and believing – the voices of older and “wiser” friends and coworkers.

Meanwhile, his mom and si...