Journal

Grace: God’s Love Language

“Don’t the Bible say we must love everybody?” “O, the Bible! To be sure, it says a great many things; but then, nobody ever thinks of doing them.” — Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin Whether you are a new follower of Jesus, or have been one for many...

Pray and Be Strange in These Days

“Remember for my good, O my God, all that I have done for this people.”  Neh. 5.19 Pray and Be Strange for God’s sake, your good, and others…and expect costly opposition A few years ago I had the opportunity to make my first trip to China, to Shanghai.  Two things...

The Tangible Love of Christ in Lent

Fifteen years ago my wife Peggy and I had the incredible opportunity of spending two weeks with Dallas Willard and a community of brothers and sisters at the Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center in Sierra Madre, California.  As that week progressed we were given...

One Fool’s Offering. What’s Yours?

“Originality consists in returning to the origin.” – Antoni Gaudí I hadn’t heard of Antoni Gaudí before spring of 2004 when I first visited Barcelona, but you can’t miss him once you’re there. Of the many works this master architect designed, his pièce de...

Failure and Freedom

By: Joe Riffe I hate failing. It’s excruciating. This was true when I was young. I hated failing at school or at sports or high school attempts to be “cool.” Becoming an adult hasn’t changed that fact. My opportunities for failure have just changed. Now they are work,...

Slum as Sacrament – A Jerusalem in Kathmandu

The slum of Danaseri in Kathmandu, Nepal is a sacred place on par with the island of Iona in Scotland, St. Peter’s in Rome, Jerusalem, and Lourdes. Danaseri doesn’t look like much at the first glance. It looks like a place you wouldn’t want to go to or spend much time...

Jesus’ Hands to God’s Beloved In Nepal

To the American mind, the caste system is almost impossible to comprehend.  Because of our Declaration of Independence it is engrained (though inconsistently applied) in our national psyche that ‘all men are created equal’.  In Nepal because of Hinduism, this is not...

Small Surrenders

Thomas Merton said: “We are not converted only once in our lives but many times, and this endless series of large and small conversions, inner revolutions, leads to our transformation in Christ.” As a child, I was considered a Pollyanna in our family. A...

Lent Resources 2017

Liturgical seasons can act as guideposts through the year and Lent is a particularly special one.  It’s easy to get caught up in the “sackcloth and ashes” part of Lent, with all the self-denial and focus on our own sin.  This is important to...
On Race In America and A Christian Response

On Race In America and A Christian Response

For those who weren’t able to make it to the February 1 Soundings Seminar at Restoration Anglican Church in Arlington, VA, we have provided links below to a “video” (an audio-only recording of the entire evening set to still images from the evening)...

Light in the Darkness

Several years ago, my wife and I celebrated our wedding anniversary with a getaway in southern Utah. Where we stayed, we were bordered by the Colorado River on one side, and on the other by the dramatic red sandstone structures that make up the landscape. One morning...

WWJD? Love all the way.

The power of God was shown most clearly at the resurrection of Jesus.  God defeated death. The love of God was shown most clearly on the cross of Christ.  God poured out his life for us.  And Jesus said, “Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another”...