He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. Ps. 18:19 Aren't we all longing for a spacious place? Aren't we all longing for a place to run free, to breathe deeply, to spin round and round with our arms wide open? Don't we all desire relationships where … Continue reading In Search of a Spacious Place
a reminder to take care of you
The older I get, the more the old saying of Jesus "Physician, heal thyself" makes sense. I've spent more than two decades doing a lot of caring. But the more attend to myself, the more sadness I find, the more anxiety I feel, the more trauma I notice. The more I realize that I desperately … Continue reading a reminder to take care of you
Hello Depression My Old Friend
May is Mental Health Awareness month. May began by saying goodbye to my dear mother-in-law, whose mental health story is not mine to tell, but whose heartache was evident to all of us who had the privilege of knowing her. Both on the long drive to Iowa and during our time there, I felt a … Continue reading Hello Depression My Old Friend
You Can Have It All vs. It’s All Already Yours
First Sunday in Lent Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it … Continue reading You Can Have It All vs. It’s All Already Yours
Dignity and Dust
She sends an email to me with an anxious energy to it. In it, she writes, "Seriously, I've not given any thought to Lent this year, and I'm not sure what I should give up." "Why don't you give up being so anxious?" I say. She isn't amused. We know each other well enough for … Continue reading Dignity and Dust
Rediscovering Nouwen | On Power and Intimacy
I'm continuing to reflect on Henri Nouwen's 1972 book The Wounded Healer. Now 46 years later, it's as important as ever to wrestle with Nouwen's invitation, particularly when it seems that our political and ecclesial leaders operate more from a posture of power rather than intimacy, particularly as we see our own propensity to live from … Continue reading Rediscovering Nouwen | On Power and Intimacy
Becoming a Wounded Healer
"The great illusion of leadership is to think that one can be led out of the desert by someone who has never been there.” Henri Nouwen I've been re-visiting an old friend recently - Henri Nouwen - who is easily in my Top 5 most formative modern spiritual writers. The lanky Dutchman was a complicated … Continue reading Becoming a Wounded Healer
The Lost Pastor
I got the call again a few nights ago. It's the same call I get quite often, often by anxious pastoral colleagues or overwhelmed elders or frazzled denominational executives. It's a call I get amidst a pastoral crisis, and it arrives with a familiar cadence and pattern which goes something like this: "Hey Chuck, I … Continue reading The Lost Pastor
God is Always Home :: A Sermon Series
I had the great privilege of preaching a 3-part series in November 2018 called "God Is Always Home." It's my own unique riff on Luke 15. I channel Augustine's lovely line: God is more near to me than I am to myself. I hope it's an encouragement for you during this season. http://westminstergr.org/blog/entry/sermon-god-is-always-home http://westminstergr.org/blog/entry/sermon-god-is-always-home-part-2 http://westminstergr.org/blog/entry/sermon-god-is-always-home-part-3
The Beautiful Mystery of You
“There is a desire in many people in the modern world to see themselves clearly. But if you listen to them, between the psychological cliches and the chatter of false intimacy, what they’re seeing is a certain limited image that they have partly projected and partly excavated, but which is terribly limited in proportion to … Continue reading The Beautiful Mystery of You