Making our history one step at a time
My first book by Richard Rohr "Eager to Love" just happened to be about my favorite saint too, Saint Francis. I am drawn to Francis because he critiqued the Church while remaining a part of it, and he exemplified holy envy when encountering the Sultan. Rohr gets to Francis's central message: the centrality of love.
On Papa Ostler's "Listen Learn Love" podcast, Julie Lee expresses this idea of "I See You", of witnessing and being present in another person's pain, and it really touched me. I tried to put together a few words in response.
I love this image of the wounded healer. We all have something that is broken. But we all can offer our love and care to those who are lonely, anxious, or in pain.
My favorite image from this book is of God willing to be overruled by his children: "My sons have defeated me, my sons have defeated me." When we see injustice in the world, even at the hands of a church, we should seek to confront it and make it better.
Lowell Bennion is my hero. "Nothing matters ultimately in any setting—in marriage, the family, school, the church, the community, the world—except what happens to persons."
Could trying to walk in someone else's shoes ever be a bad thing? Many would argue that empathy is central to the development of morality. Bloom argues otherwise: that empathy acts like a spotlight, biasing us to short-term answers and parochial solutions.
This is the next book by Paul Tournier that I was able to hunt down in the UW library system. It too is out of print and unavailable as an ebook, but thanks to the interlibrary loan system, I was able to get it shipped from the University of Oregon. Paul Tournier is a Swiss... Continue Reading →
It's been a few days since the end of conference, giving me enough time to piece together a few of my thoughts. I haven't had time to completely read through all the talks yet, so I may do a few follow-up posts with some more in-depth thoughts on specific talks or themes. But wow! What... Continue Reading →
I served an LDS mission in Hamburg, and later Frankfurt, Germany. A mission is an absolute transformative experience. For many, it is the first "away of from" experience, and requires a bit of growing up. It is also for some the first time that faith gets real, and not just something you do because you... Continue Reading →
I wish you all a beautiful Sabbath Day! I am sharing with you my remarks from sacrament meeting this morning on giving and recieving mercy in our lives. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they than mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the... Continue Reading →
