don't forget?

Most of us can forgive and forget; we just don't want the other person to forget that we forgave.  Ivern Ball  photo from here

slip n' slide

Last Sunday at St. Paul's annual meeting our youth director (Steve Roe) mentioned the importance of  developing an attitude of  youthfulness for our congregation.  I've been thinking all week about what that would look like - and then I saw this photo and realized that youthfulness requires some elements of playfulness. 

Look at that man...for all we know he might have just left the office of his supervisor upstairs, who informed him that his job was being downsized, but after sliding he is able to shake the bad news off and his inner child is delighted!

Imagine if every time you had to retrieve something from upstairs what joy you would anticipate knowing that you'd be able to slide back down?  Is this just a fabulous way to embrace youthfulness?  All offices, churches, and homes should be required to have one.  And for those of us with grandchildren, it would only raise our coolness factor with them.  Now, all I need is a two-story house. 

step forward

"Take one step towards God

and God takes

seven steps towards you;
Walk to God

and God comes

running.

- Muhammad

photo from here

Today!

This cartoon gives a whole new meaning

to that infamous 1960's quote:

 Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

Waiting patiently...

"Patience is seeing people not seeing,
and not trying to convince them."

Rinon Hoxha

our value is a gift

"Of God's love we can say two things: it is poured out universally for everyone, from the Pope to the loneliest wino on the planet; and secondly, God's love doesn't seek value, it creates value. It is not because we have value that we are loved, but because we are loved that we have value. Our value is a gift, not an achievement." William Sloan Coffin, Jr. from his book "Credo"

The Genius of Jesus

"The absolute religious genius of Jesus is that

he ignores all

debt codes,

purity codes,

religious quarantines,

and the endless searching for sinners.

He refuses to divide the world into the pure and the impure,

much to the chagrin of almost everybody—then and now.

Unlike most churches, he is not into “sin management.”

He is into transformation."

Richard Rohr

to read the rest of this quote go here