Winn Collier's Blog, page 58

A Conversation with Thaddeus

Thaddeus sat quiet and still, watching the gnarled oaks drape their rusty-gold canopy over the cool earth. Thaddeus hadn't spoken for a nice long while. If I didn't know better, I would have assumed he had dozed off. But I did know better. If you spend time with Thaddeus, you grow accustomed to awkward silences that stretch so long you sometimes forget what exactly you were talking about before the quiet, back in all the noise when everything was so damn urgent. More than once I've forgotten ...

Heart-sick Tears {into the story}

O that my head were a spring of water,

           and my eyes a fountain of tears,

so that I might weep day and night

           for the slain of my poor people!



{Old Testament reading for the 20th Sunday after Pentecost, Jeremiah 8:18-9:1}



Jeremiah, known as the weeping prophet, did not stand distant from his people. Jeremiah was immersed in their story, their life, their tragedies. Have you ever encountered a man quick with tears? It's a powerful thing, genuine tears  - and most of us are...

The Church, Politics and Fear

Many have lamented that, in the current climate, political and cultural rhetoric within Christian circles evidences a lot of fear. Recently, a journalist doing a piece on this question asked me to comment. Here is my response:



Fear, like anger, most often emerges when we sense the chaos of losing control. When we believe that our power, our authority, our place at the center of the table is threatened, then we launch into maintaining (at least our sense of) control. When those who have an op...

Who Loves Jesus More? {into the story}

The tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. {Gospel reading for the 19th Sunday after Pentecost, Luke 15:1-10}



This morning, on the one day a year the calendar explicitly tells us to cease from our labors (God suggests once per week - I prefer that rhythm), we walked to brunch at the Blue Moon, perhaps the hippest breakfast joint in town. Where else would you find a large picture of Willie Nelson hanging above the fireplace, dine amid the home turf for the Charlot...

Double Rainbow

What does it mean?

Deprivation and Hope {into the story}

So, therefore, none of you can become my disciples if you do not give up all of your possessions. {Gospel reading for the 18th Sunday after Pentecost, Ordinary Time, Luke 14:25-33)





Jesus words' cause distress for many of us. We look at all we have - and all that we want to have - and we wonder (hope) what else Jesus could possibly have meant. Must I hand over the house I live in, the car I drive, the computer I'm typing on in order to follow Jesus? 

Yes.

But this isn't a matter of me...

Angels Everywhere {into the story}

I'm beginning a new practice (at least for a bit), interacting with one of the lectionary texts for the upcoming Sunday. I'd like to ruminate on them ahead of time, and I thought you might want to join me. Not sure exactly how regular this will be, but we will see. If you are unfamiliar with the lectionary, it is a way for many Christians across the world to read shared texts and hear together our shared gospel story. So, into the story...

___





Do not forget to show hospitality to...

Angles Everywhere {into the story}

I'm beginning a new practice (at least for a bit), interacting with one of the lectionary texts for the upcoming Sunday. I'd like to ruminate on them ahead of time, and I thought you might want to join me. Not sure exactly how regular this will be, but we will see. If you are unfamiliar with the lectionary, it is a way for many Christians across the world to read shared texts and hear together our shared gospel story. So, into the story...

___





Do not forget to show hospitality to...

Indigo Bloom

Two beefy fellows grunted as they lugged me into Harris & Sons Fine Furniture. I strained for a look, but my plastic-wrapped cocoon allowed only hazy glimpses. Unfortunately, I smelled everything. The moist armpits hugging me added a vinegary fetor to the fog of stale cigarettes and salami I'd inhaled the entire trip. Every stinky, bumpy mile from Hickory, North Carolina.



A bony man maneuvered me to the prime perch, the front window display. Apparently I was all the rage. The previous spring...

Holy Fools

I believe in purgatory, as should anyone who passed through junior high. Seventh grade, I believe, and I was on the basketball squad. I didn't play much, only at the end of games when we were behind so far that there was nothing for the scrubs to screw up. I was tubby  and uncoordinated, not the best year of my life. We were playing Reicher, the Catholic school where all the guys were at least a foot taller, had hair in all the right places and seemed oh, so incredibly cool.



Thirty minutes o...