If you want to get serious about studying Scripture, you have to become serious about poetry. God chose to allow his interactions with humanity to be written in both prose and poetry. There are both histories and hymns, statements and also songs.
All tagged lament
Moral Injury and the Power of Lament
Moral injury can cause us to turn inwards due to guilt, grief, or shame. Lament exposes dark deeds to the light and brings God’s mercy and grace to bear.
Spiritual Friendship
The truth of God’s saving grace through faith becomes realer than real when experienced in life, interacting with those who wear skin. We need to have, to be, a friend.
Five Steps to Restore Your Church’s Vitality
Sometimes, a health crisis hits a church squarely in the face. If the church possesses enough self-awareness, it then faces the choice to either make dramatic changes or else permanently lose health and vitality.
Movement Gives the Unmentionable Momentum
Talking about the pain and difficulty of this past year is going to be very important to all ages within our churches. But, how do we guide people to mention their pain?
COVID-19: A Lament
I believe that this moment is inviting us to lament. Why? Because God is present in our reality and invites us to be present.
Dark Season, Renewed Hope
What will follow this season remains to be seen, but it will certainly alter what church looks like and how we practice the way of Jesus. What should leaders do as we enter into this uncertain and challenging time?
Celebration and Suffering: Psalm 22
To appreciate what hope means, we need a word of wisdom about our human condition that is more ancient than our American culture in the 21st century.
Call Failed
As ministers, we are called to counsel those who are experiencing a prayer life full of “dropped calls.”
Walking Away from God (1 Kings 17)
There was no food, no money, and no more time. She had enough supplies for one last meal with her son before she would to take their fate into her own hands.
Extravagant Love
Our lives are not just sustained, they are infused with God’s love that overflows from need to sheer luxuriance.
Weary (A Poem for the Perplexed in this Political Age)
Mankind. An oxymoron? A question? One part man, less parts kind, One wonders what peace there we can find …
"Mercy" (A Prayer from Jessica Lemmons)
For the child who went to school and will never come home: we mourn. For the mother who stares at the bed that didn't get made that morning, who must now plan it's occupant's funeral: we mourn.
A Litany for Those in Pain
O Jesus, man of sorrows and suffering, hear me.
From the desire of being known,
deliver me, Jesus.
Searching for Human Goodness
There is human goodness to be found. This is the hope of God in the world: the eternal love and light of God emanating through willing vessels to restore our fragmented world.
The Loneliest Number
Ministry, whether it be as a profession or as the call that comes to each follower of Jesus, can be a lonely business. We don’t like being alone—or more specifically, we don’t like being singled out.
For the Tears of Children (Houston)
God, I’ve watched the news,
one report after another;
and to be honest—
I can’t look anymore.
Yet - from Balkan Voices
What is the difference between reasoned encouragement that penetrates the soul and glib phrases that skate off our skin?
I Remember - from Rusty Tugman (on His Son's Birthday)
How could I forget the one who made known to me a kind of love that runs so deep it cannot be explained?
The Heart of the Matter
When your heart hurts, to whom will you turn? When this isn’t working anymore (whatever this is), to whom will your heart lead you?