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Thinking Big Thoughts
When my 7-year-old grandson captured my Queen in five chess moves, I admitted again that I am not a strategist. Or a manager. Or a calculator of wins and losses. Soon after that match, while cleaning my office and clearing out a ton of stuff that no longer serves my purposes, I came across notes from a chapel message by Dr. Larry Crabb [1], notes taken while I was in seminary. Chess Players vs. Poets Comparing chess players and poets, Dr. Crabb argued that chess players maneuver and manipulate in ways that make God subject to their moves. Poets hear the music of heaven, step onto the dance floor to…
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Good Friday: Did Jesus Have to Die?
After Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1–44), the die was cast. The Rubicon crossed. No turning back. The Jewish religious leaders gathered, devising the plot to kill Jesus. Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did [raised Lazarus], believed in him, but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” But one of them, Caiaphas, who…
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Jayber Crow: The Value of a Small Life
Intrigued by the words “the value of a small life,” which I heard on a podcast in January, those words refer to this book. Jayber Crow : The Life Story of Jayber Crow, Barber of Port William Membership, as Written by Himself (published 2000) is actually a novel written by Wendell Berry as if it is a memoir written by the character the author created. Timely and timeless, Jayber’s story transported me to an unfamiliar setting, a bygone time, and describes people I know. Including myself. An excerpt: “If you could do it, I suppose it would be a good idea to live your life in a straight line––starting say,…
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What’s in a Name? Does Praying in Jesus’ Name Matter?
Shakespeare posed the rhetorical question he answered from the lips of Juliet. ”What’s in a name? That which we call a rose would smell as sweet,” no matter what we called that flower. Would it? Recently, I found myself drawn into a circle of women I do not know to pray for someone I also don’t know. These are women in a yoga class. The woman they prayed for was scheduled to have surgery that day. The one who asked us to pray then reached for hands. Among strangers, I held hands. Awkward. Not because I object to praying for people, but because in this context it was so unexpected.…
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Hark! A Predator at my Door
“Can I come get my hawk?” I was still in my robe. Answering the doorbell, my husband could see a young man holding his phone. Minutes before, a hawk had flown into the glass door to our patio. I’d been watching it as both the bird and I stood dazed and confused. It’s common for dove to fly into the glass and when I heard the thud, that’s what I thought had happened. But this thud was more like a crash. Grateful the glass hadn’t cracked, I jumped up, saw this HUGE bird, thankful it wasn’t dead, I grabbed my dog’s collar, and yelled for my husband. “Is that a…
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Ongoing Conversations with God
The Bible’s place is in your heart, not on a bookshelf or coffee table. The Bible does not open itself by itself, nor does God reveal his truths all at once. You and I often approach the Bible expecting to get what we need out of it and go on our way. My friend’s son came home from his first day in first grade. “How did it go?” his mom asked. “I didn’t even learn how to read.” Big Expectations of God The Bible is the revelation of who God is, his purposes for the world he created, and his plan for all human history. Vast and incomprehensible, God is.…
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Not All Who WONDER Are Lost
On August 15, 2022, Frederick Buechner died at age 96. My daughter said, “I thought he died a long time ago, like Shakespeare, or some of the other people you quote.” I laughed. “Authors pass but books persist.” [1] And books offer a window into the soul of their writers. Introduced to Buechner’s writing while I was in seminary, God has used his writings to help me think. About life. About doubt. About how Christians fear the challenge of thinking deeply about their faith and default to letting others think for them. Frederick Buechner, author, preacher, and theologian, shared life-giving words through books and sermons that conveyed deep faith underlying…
