Across Church Street
As
The Lord's prayer and our participation require child-like faith.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. — Matthew 6:10
If it's what we pray for, it's what we should want and work for. So, how is it in heaven? We need imagination for that, something God gave us the capacity for. Most of us were best at it when we were children. Dependency, trust, and imagination: is this what it means to have child-like faith?
Pond Water
Let's be clear.
In my office, I have a jar of pond water. It's a mixture of grit, sand, silt, and other pond-y stuff. When I shake it up, I'm reminded of how most of us move through our days. Life's ingredients suspended by the churn. When we want some clarity, we can pause, allowing the big bits to settle. But if we need things to be really clear, it will take more time, a lot more time.
Good Will
What is goodwill? We should take time to regard its value.
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. ⏤ Luke 2:14 KJV
The goodwill announced here at Jesus' birth is God's favor toward us. Goodwill is also an intangible asset on a company's balance sheet. It's the difference between the firm's market value and its tangible assets. There's something more to life than the concrete and visible, tenuous as that 'more' may seem at times. Consider Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "Christmas Bells," on which the carol "I Heard the Bells" is based.
- love
- Holy Spirit
- humility
- church
- poverty & mercy
- politics & society
- mission & witness
- holiness
- parable & metaphor
- identity
- eternal life
- doubt & deconstruction
- leadership
- grace
- justice
- scripture
- spiritual life
- advent & christmas
- imagination & creativity
- technology & AI
- knowing God
- human dignity
- faith & trust
- incarnation & cross
- kingdom of God
- community
- reconciliation
- spiritual formation
- epistemology
- prayer
- gratitude
- culture
- creation & nature
- discipleship
I practice the spiritual discipline of rescuing earthworms on paved surfaces. It's a reminder to me that I can pause what I'm doing, get a little dirty, and help. Also, that I've been given the responsibility to care.