Stephen W. Hiemstra's Blog, page 86
June 13, 2022
Mass Shootings: Monday Monologues (podcast), June 13, 2022
By Stephen W. Hiemstra
This morning I will share a prayer and reflect on Mass Shootings. After listening, please click here to take a brief listener survey (10 questions).
To listen, click on this link.
Hear the words; Walk the steps; Experience the joy!
Mass Shootings: Monday Monologues (podcast), June 13, 2022
Also see:
Monday Monologue On March 26, 2018
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net,
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.
Newsletter at: https://bit.ly/MayDay_22, Signup
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June 12, 2022
Prayer for Mercy and Grace

By Stephen W. Hiemstra
Merciful father,
All glory, honor, and power are yours, for you formed us and created us in your image.
Forgive our de-centered and sinful existence. Refocus our lives on you that we might prosper and live a holy life.
Thank you for the example of your son, our Lord, Jesus Christ, who lived a sinless life, died on a cross for our sins, and was raised in glory for our salvation.
In the power of your Holy Spirit, guide and protect us in these troubled times. Place your image ever before us that we might share our blessings with those around us.
In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.
Prayer for Mercy and Grace
Also see:
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com
Newsletter at: https://bit.ly/MayDay_22, Signup
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June 10, 2022
Mass Shootings
By Stephen W. Hiemstra
No problem in American society is more vexing than the mass shootings that came after the Columbine High School massacre on April 20, 1999, where fifteen people died: A dozen students, a teacher, and the two shooters.
A database compiled by the Washington Post of school shootings since Columbia reports 185 students, educators, and others killed in 337 schools with the median age of shooters being sixteen years old.1 From 2009 to 2021, there were 277 mass shootings in the United States, resulting in 1,565 people shot and killed and 947 people shot and wounded. More than half (53 percent) of mass shootings took place in private homes and were related to domestic violence. Eighty-one percent of the mass shootings involved a handgun, but the ones involving assault-type weapons resulted in more casualties.2
What are we to make of these events?
Defining the Problem
At least four points can be made in working towards defining the problem of mass shootings:
◆First, automatic weapons have been in the public domain in the United States since the 1920s. It is only since Columbine that we have a problem with frequent, mass-shooting events. What has changed is primarily us, not the availability of guns, consistent with the usual assumption of personal responsibility for one’s actions.
◆Second, the majority of shooters are male, usually young men who often spend most of their spare time playing violent video games.
◆Third, mass shootings are an irrational act of self-destruction: Suicide by police. Even when body armor is used, the shooter’s life is not expected to improve. The overwhelming desire to draw attention to self in spite of dire consequences suggests that mass shootings have a direct connection to the media response.
◆Fourth, mass shootings in the United States have no overt political or monetary incentive as might be true in other countries. The motive for these shootings is psychological, although a racial or other prejudice may sometimes be cited.
None of these observations are particularly unique.
Family Systems
The psychological motive for mass shootings suggests a connection with family systems analysis, which views the family—broadly defined—as an emotional unit.
When a young person acts out in family systems theory, we generally go looking for stress elsewhere in the family system. For example, when the adults in a family are not getting along, kids act out; when the adults reconcile, the kid problem resolves itself (Friedman 1985, 21). The problem of adulting—delaying the advent of adulthood—overlays the problem of mass shootings because adolescent behavior persists beyond the usual age milestones when people mature. Thus, a forty-year-old may behave like a kid acting out.
If we view the country as a family system, we are clearly experiencing serious stress. The economy is not performing well for most people as we see declining standards of living, declining life expectancy, and declining fertility rates. Poor economic performance is often directly associated with domestic violence. On top of these long-run trends, we have the COVID pandemic.
Family systems act like a home plumbing system that bursts at the weakest point when water pressure is raised. Stress finds a home in the weakest link in the family system, which is often our young men. A water system with too much pressure cannot be fixed by replacing particular joints; the problem simply moves to the next weakest joint. The fix comes in lowering the pressure.
Technical versus Adaptive Change
If the underlying problem in mass shootings is us, then we have an adaptive problem, not a technical problem. We know how to solve a technical problem—work harder, allocate more budget, pass a law—adaptive problems require that we change who we are, which is harder and takes more time because the focus shifts to formation activities (Heifetz and Linsky 2002, 14-18).
Adaptive problems require changes in how we form the character of our children because change is harder for adults. It is important to recognize that formation can be either good or bad. The key to recognizing a formational activity is repetition. Gaming is a formational activity like practicing lay-ups in basketball until it becomes instinctive—muscle memory.
Children play games to learn how to succeed as adults. We send our kids to Sunday school, summer camps, and music teachers to offer them good formation. Bad formation occurs when we set infants in front of the television rather than play with them or let our teenagers hide in their rooms playing video games. The sad truth is that defending our families against declining standards of living by working harder has led many of us to this point.
Legal Efforts
Because mass shooters care a lot about their public perception, the treatment by media outlets is significant in managing the incentive to shoot. Ironically, the usual focus on banning handguns and assault weapons often increases sales of such weapons and it feeds potential shooters’ obsession with these weapons. Acting out in mass shootings is a sign of weakness, not strength, so enhancing the aurora of power around the event and instruments could be counter-productive.
This is not to say that modest improvements in government laws and regulations would not have reduced the death toll in some of these mass shooting events. Raising the age to purchase an assault rifle to twenty-one may have, for example, prevented the shootings at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas (May 24, 2022) and the Tops Friendly Markets store in Buffalo, New York (May 14, 2022) because both shooters were eighteen years old.
However, concentrating all our energy on legal fixes that do not address underlying incentives is not necessarily the best use of our time and energy; it may simply reflect our own inadequacies and power obsessions.
Going Forward
Dealing with the adaptive problem suggests a need to increase the capacity to deal with society’s stressors. If declining standards of living, life expectancies, and fertility rates are putting stress on the family system, then it is important to focus on those problems. If young men have poor problem-solving and social skills because they play too many video games, then we need to dial back on the gaming and teach problem-solving and social skills.
References
Friedman, Edwin H. 1985. Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue. New York: Gilford Press.
Heifetz Ronald A. and Marty Linsky. 2002. Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Footnotes
1 https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphi....
2 https://everytownresearch.org/maps/ma....
Mass Shootings
Also see:
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com
Newsletter at: https://bit.ly/MayDay_22, Signup
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June 7, 2022
Vanhoozer: Understand the Bible, Part 1
Kevin J. Vanhoozer. 1998. Is There a Meaning in This Text: The Bible, The Reader, and the Morality of Literary Knowledge. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. (Go to: Part 2 or Part 3)
Review by Stephen W. Hiemstra
Biblical interpretation has become a contact sport. The Bible has been the center of the Christian faith since the fourth century and is still today the most widely read book on earth. Most cultural disputes either originate in biblical interpretation or are mediated by it. How then are we to read and understand the Bible properly? Even before seminary, my own quest to answer such questions brought me to Kevin Vanhoozer’ book, Is There Meaning to This Text?
IntroductionVanhoozer starts off with some very interesting observations:
…many of the contentious issues at the heart of the current debates about biblical interpretation, about interpretation in general, and about postmodern interpretation in particular, [are] really theological issues. I began to see meaning as a theological phenomenon, involving a kind of transcendence, and the theory of interpretation as a theological task. Instead of a book on biblical interpretation, therefore, I have written a theology of interpretation…the serious student of Scripture needs to develop an epistemology (theory of knowledge) and hermeneutic (theory of interpretation)…not only epistemology, but [also] metaphysics and ethics of meaning (9-10).
Say what? Perhaps it is easier to start with a question. For example, in scientific study, where do the hypotheses and assumptions come from that are needed before applying logic? Or, in terms of faith, does one need to be a Christian to read the Bible properly? Vanhoozer asks: “What does it mean to be ‘biblical’?”(9) These are not questions easily answered no matter how you stand on the issue of faith. Yet, we cannot proceed in any serious study of the Bible without implicitly or explicitly having an answer. Clearly, Vanhoozer has taken on an interesting and intrinsically difficult task.
Vanhoozer is ultimately writing a study on hermeneutics—“reflection on the principles that undergird correct textual interpretation” (19). As he parses this subject, he sees interpretation involving three philosophical issues: “the nature of reality” [metaphysics], “the possibility of knowledge” [epistemology], and “the criteria for morality” [ethics]. Vanhoozer sees these three questions motivating a fourth: “What does it mean to be human, an agent of meaning?” [anthropology] (9).
Literary CriticismTwentieth century philosophy has focused on the problems posed by language (17). The Bible is a book which implies that Biblical interpretation is a form of literary interpretation or “literary criticism”. Citing Kierkegaard’s reading of James 1:22-27, when we read the Bible, do we see in it only ourselves, perceive it to be a love letter, or take it as a royal edict? (15-16)
Vanhoozer sees literary criticism evolving through three stages: author, text, and reader (25).
In the first stage, that of the author, the focus is on the author’s intent in writing (25). Who was the author and what was his audience? Knowing the author ties the text to a time, place, and social context. As Christians, we see the hand of God working through particular authors to bring us into closer relationship with Him.In the second stage, that of the text, the focus is on the text itself and how it is to be understood (26). Reformers, such as John Calvin, naturally looked to the Bible itself in understanding a particular passage. The idea was that scripture can interpret scripture; an unclear passage may be more clearly discussed elsewhere in scripture. As Christians, we intuit the presence of God in a particular text knowing God’s expression in other texts.In the third stage, that of the reader, the focus is on the reader’s context—an inherently ethical question (27). When we consider the question—what does this passage mean to me?—we expect to get different answers because our contexts differ. Yet, as Christians, we also expect continuity in our reading of scripture with other readings through the agency of the Holy Spirit.In this latter respect, Vanhoozer writes: “My thesis is that ethical interpretation is a spiritual exercise and that the spirit of understanding is not a spirit of power, nor of play, but the Holy Spirit” (29). As you might imagine, there is a lot to unpack in this one sentence!
Who is Kevin Vanhoozer?Vanhoozer is a professor of systemic theology at Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois right outside of Chicago. He writes Is There a Meaning in This Text in four parts:
Introduction (Theology and Literary Theory) Faith Seeking Textual Understanding Part One (Undoing Interpretation: Authority, Allegory, and Anarchy) Undoing the Author: Authority and IntentionallyUndoing the Text: Textuality and IndeterminacyUndoing the Reader: Contextuality and Ideology Part Two (Redoing Interpretation: Agency, Action, Affect) Resurrecting the Author: Meaning As Communicative ActionRedeeming the Text: The Rationality of Literary ActsReforming the Reader: Interpretative Virtue, Spirituality, and Communicative Efficacy Conclusion: A Hermeneutics of the Cross A Hermeneutics of Humility and ConvictionIn his part one, Vanhoozer seeks to interpret the postmodern hermeneutics as Christian theologian. In his part two he offers an alternative hermeneutical approach (25). These chapters are followed by a bibliography, a name index, and a subject index.
AssessmentKevin Vanhoozer’s Is There a Meaning in This Text is a book that seeks to explain what “all the shouting is about” in Biblical interpretation . That makes this book must-read for seminary students and working pastors. Be prepared to be challenged both in your knowledge of philosophy and hermeneutics. In parts 2 and 3 of this review, I will look in more depth at Vanhoozer’s review of postmodern hermeneutics and his proposed hermeneutic.
FootnotesThe 12th century Archbishop of Canterbury, Anselm thought so. Anselm famously spoke of the priority of faith in seeking understanding. If faith must precede understanding, how can it be “objective”? (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/anselm).
My book, A Christian Guide to Spirituality (T2Pneuma.com), also considers these four questions—metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and anthropology—in trying to understand Christian spirituality.
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” (James 1:22-27 ESV)
I knew that Dr. Butterfield was a serious scholar when I noticed Vanhoozer on her list of readings (87-89; review: Butterfield Journeys from PC to JC; http://wp.me/p3Xeut-wj).
ReferencesButterfield, Rosaria Champagne. 2012. The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert: An English Professor’s Journey into Christian Faith. Pittsburgh: Crown & Covenant Publications.
Hiemstra, Stephen W. 2014. A Christian Guide to Spirituality. Centreville, VA: T2Pneuma Publishers LLC.
Vanhoozer: Understand the Bible? Part 1Also see:Webb: Analyzing Culture VanHoozer and Strachan Argue Case for Pastor-Theologian Vanhoozer Confronts Dualism Dramatically, Part 1 Books, Films, and MinistryOther ways to engage online:Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.netPublisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com Newsletter at: https://bit.ly/MayDay_22, SignupThe post Vanhoozer: Understand the Bible, Part 1 appeared first on T2Pneuma.net.
June 6, 2022
Restoration: Monday Monologues (podcast), June 6, 2022
By Stephen W. Hiemstra
This morning I will share a prayer and reflect on Complete Restoration. After listening, please click here to take a brief listener survey (10 questions).
To listen, click on this link.
Hear the words; Walk the steps; Experience the joy!
Restoration: Monday Monologues (podcast), June 6, 2022
Also see:
Monday Monologue On March 26, 2018
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net,
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.
Newsletter at: https://bit.ly/MayDay_22, Signup
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June 5, 2022
Prayer of Restoration
By Stephen W. Hiemstra
Merciful Father,
All power and glory, dominion and honor, law and justice are yours because you created us and care for us each and every day.
Forgive our imperfections, our willful indiscretions, and our wanton sin, not because we deserve this forgiveness, but because you love us and know that we cannot exist without you.
For the many blessings, named and unnamed, in this life, we thank you. Help us to live into this thankfulness that our joy in you may be complete.
In the power of your Holy Spirit, complete your work of creation by giving us the heart of Christ.
In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.
Prayer of Restoration
Also see:
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com
Newsletter at: https://bit.ly/MayDay_22, Signup
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June 3, 2022
Complete Restoration
By Stephen W. Hiemstra
Salvation and eternal life have their skeptics. Skepticism about the resurrection of Jesus Christ led the Apostle Paul, for example, to write: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” (1 Cor 15:14) The resurrection of Christ implies that Jesus lives and will return someday to bring us home.
The Mechanics of Resurrection
Knowing that the future is in Christ, through faith we know that the future is secure and good, because we serve a God who loves us and is himself holy and good. Jesus reminds us:
Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. (Matt 7:24-25)
If Jesus is my rock, my denominator in life, and my assumption taken from outside the system, I cannot be easily shaken. But not everyone is convinced. How do we know the sequence of events in our salvation and the path to our eternal life?
The Apostle Paul outlines the path to salvation, saying:
That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Phil 3:10-11)
In other words, I know that I will be raised from the dead because I have known Christ, have shared in his suffering and death. While Christ accomplished our salvation by means of his life, death, and resurrection (Rom 5:6-11), we are sanctified in following Christ’s model, the perfect of the image of God in human form.
Faith and the Soul
In his letter to the church in Corinth, Paul writes again on this subject:
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. (1 Cor 12:12-14)
Here Paul is talking specifically about the nature of the church, but a second interpretation is possible.
In Christian thinking, we often talk about the soul, which today we might refer to as our identity. In Hebrew thinking, the word soul implies body, mind, spirit, and the people who we are in relationship with. When we come to Christ, the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, the means by which we come into relationship with God. Our soul has forever changed. Much like we are one body in Christ (the church), we are also one with God, who is eternal.
Being one with God implies that our identity is now held in common with fellow believers past, present, and future. Because God is eternal, being in union with God implies that our identity is now eternal. It is also complete because of God’s omniscience. Anyone with our DNA can in principle copy our bodies; only God can reproduce our souls.
Example From Alzheimer’s Disease
For those of you unaccustomed to this notion of shared identity and the soul, what happens to your identity when your mind is taken over with a disease, like Alzheimer’s? Do you stop being a person? Do you lose your identity because you no longer remember who you are? Not at all. When you meet a person with Alzheimer’s, their identity is retained by the people around them who care for them, order their favorite foods, and tell their stories.
It is no different when we die. When we die, our identity is retained not only by all of the people that knew us, but also, for the Christian, by the Holy Spirit, who is eternal. God who created us from dust can easily recreate us, complete with our identity, our souls, because we are in relationship with him (1 Cor 15:51-55).
Complete Restoration
Also see:
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com
Newsletter at: https://bit.ly/MayDay_22, Signup
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May 31, 2022
Bullard Classifies Church Conflict
George W. Bullard, Jr. 2008. Every Congregation Needs a Little Conflict. St Louis: Chalice Press.
Review by Stephen W. Hiemstra
One of the last things that Jesus said to his disciples before being arrested was this: “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35 ESV) In fact, one of my favorite songs growing up built on this theme: “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love”. Sadly, the doctrine of original sin often plays out in broken churches and unresolved conflict.
IntroductionIn his book, Every Congregation Needs a Little Conflict, George Bullard states his objectives in these words:
“The purpose of this book is to help congregational, denominational, and parachurch leadership empower congregations throughout various intensities of conflict, and to use conflict in a healthy manner to deal with the issues confronting congregations” (3).
Bullard sees conflict on 7-level scale ranging from simple disagreements in normal group decision making to physical conflict requiring law enforcement intervention (17). Knowing how to respond at different levels of conflict intensity empowers church leaders to craft effective responses and, at the lower levels of intensity, actually help churches to grow in their ministry effectiveness (1).
Bullard’s classifies his 7 levels of conflict intensity according to about a half-dozen different criteria which he summarizes in a table (17). The criteria (from low intensity to high intensity) include:
Is the conflict healthy or unhealthy or in-between?What is the objective of conflict resolution (agreement, no disagreement, and no harm)?Is the conflict over a task, relationship, multiple tasks, between groups, congregational competition, congregational combat with causalities, congregational questioning motivates, or congregational intentional harm?Can both parties win or does someone lose or leave?What style of intervention is required: conflict resolution, conflict mediation, or conflict management?Who intervenes? Chaplain or coach, team coach, mediator, arbitrator, attorney, or law enforcement.What technique of intervention is most appropriate? Collaborate, persuade, accommodate, avoid, support, negotiate, or compel.Denomination conflict over questions of sexuality, for example, appear as a level 4 or greater conflict in this framework. Clearly, a lot of experience with these different aspects of intervention is required to both recognize them and deal with them pastorally.
Background and OrganizationBullard describes himself as a ministry partner and strategic coach for congregational and denominational leaderships with the Columbia Partnership of Hickory, NC and has written numerous books. This book is written in 12 chapters introduced with a foreword and introduction and followed by an “afterword”. The 12 chapters are:
The Necessity of Conflict in the Congregation;The First Intensity of Conflict: Typical Issues with Many Solutions;The Second Intensity of Conflict: Common Disagreements over Multiple Issues;The Third Intensity of Conflict: Competition that Develops Causes;The Fourth Intensity of Conflict: Now It’s Time to Vote or Else;The Fifth Intensity of Conflict: Dividing the Medes from the Persians;The Sixth Intensity of Conflict: Discrediting Our Enemies;The Seventh Intensity of Conflict: Destroying the Infidels;Leadership Styles for Engaging Conflict;Processes for Engaging Conflict;How to Never Experience Unhealthy Conflict in Your Congregation Again; andImplications for Denominational Service alongside Congregations (vii).Each chapter is organized with an executive summary, main text, “coaching break”, “coaching insights”, and personal reflection (5). Frequently, he illustrates his points through case studies of churches that have experienced particular types of conflict.
After his introduction, Bullard focuses the 7 chapters on describing his classification scheme for conflict. Presuming that you have taken time to identify each of these levels of intensities, what can be done about it and who can do it? These topics are the focus of the last 4 chapters.
In chapter 9, for example, Bullard identifies 7 conflict management leadership styles, including: support, avoid, accommodate, persuade, collaborate, negotiate, and compel (110). He then proceeds to define them. In my 27 years in federal service, I witnessed most of these leadership styles in use, but not everyone is comfortable and practiced in using them. This is why identifying the conflict intensity level is important—it helps one to know of when to ask for third-party help.
The adage goes—an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. In chapter 11, Bullard cites 20 things to do to prevent congregational conflict (138-141). In follow up discussion, he cites 3 of these actions as most important:
Develop a clear core ideology involving mission, purpose, and theological and cultural values, a magnetic God-given vision…Create a conflict-literate culture in your congregation by engaging in conflict ministry education… andTake intentional actions to insulate the congregation, but especially its clergy leaders, against legal, moral, and ethical failures…(138, 140, 142)Number one is his top priority—a clear vision statement. Hopefully, denomination staff are helping your congregation in proactively dealing with conflict by encouraging training in conflict awareness, resolution, and mediation (152).
AssessmentGeorge Bullard‘s Every Congregation Needs a Little Conflict covers a topic—conflict—that few people want to spend time on and yet many people have to. This book is a resource that church leaders need to familiar with just in case…
FootnotesThis song was written by a Catholic priest, Peter R. Scholtes, in 1968. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They’ll_...).
Bullard calls these criteria: “getting to yes”, “getting past no”, and “getting to neutral” (17).
www.TheColumbiaPartnership.org
The book cited on the back cover is: Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential from Your Congregation by Chalice Press. Amazon.com lists many more.
Bullard Classifies Church ConflictAlso see:Hellerman: Church Family is Serious Business Friedman: Families Matter Books, Films, and MinistryOther ways to engage online:Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.netPublisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com Newsletter at: https://bit.ly/MayDay_22, Signup
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May 30, 2022
Centering: Monday Monologues (podcast), May 30, 2022
By Stephen W. Hiemstra
This morning I will share a prayer and reflect on Centering on God. After listening, please click here to take a brief listener survey (10 questions).
To listen, click on this link.
Hear the words; Walk the steps; Experience the joy!
Centering: Monday Monologues (podcast), May 30, 2022
Also see:
Monday Monologue On March 26, 2018
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net,
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.
Newsletter at: https://bit.ly/MayDay_22, Signup
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May 29, 2022
Engendering Prayer
By Stephen W. Hiemstra
Almighty and Gracious Father,
Praise be to you, Lord of our hearts, that you engendered and prospered our faith, centered us on your image, and gave us a hope and a dream.
Forgive our wandering eyes and our stopped up ears that we have resisted your calling, turned away from your love, and ran after temptations big and small.
Thank you for the gift of faith, your salvation in Christ, and constant reminders through the Holy Spirit.
Give us not over to our desires, but draw us closer to yourself and the mission of the church. Center our lives on you and you alone.
In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.
Engendering Prayer
Also see:
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com
Newsletter at: https://bit.ly/MayDay_22, Signup
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