daily life as life goes on . . .

Hope is a four letter word we all need.  We have faith to believe that tomorrow will come.  That hope keeps us from despair in terms of the faithfulness of God and the belief that the next step we take has meaning.

These are great thoughts, and I love philosophizing and theologizing.

I also live with people who are in burnout and poverty and circumstances that are not nice.  They arise in the morning with the sense that today will happen – but that doesn’t make it easy or pretty.

I guess that’s where love comes into play.  God loves me – even before I recognized his presence.  When I enter into an awareness of God’s love, when I accept his offer of connection through Jesus, then I have a daily opportunity to rest.

Rest in an assurance that the day will pass, but also that I will be enclosed in a shelter in the time of storms.

The present presence takes us beyond future promises.  These three remain: faith, hope and love.  I’m glad love sustains me each day. 

I wander through Facebook every day.  I even comment off and on.

The evolution of Facebook has been interesting.  Originally the idea was to connect.  To see what others were doing, thinking and even visioning for the future.

My latest wanderings show that FB is all about a picture, a video or a short thought – or all three combined.  We don’t tend to look at a detailed written post.  We seem to need a picture.  Or less than 100 characters. 

Short, sweet and simple.  That works along with visual, vibrant and viewable.

So, what is the good side.

I’m finding that Facebook is the new Proverbs.  The memes are short.  The thoughts are based in the context of culture.  And sometimes there is even truth to what is said.

Read on . . . and consider that you may be reading the book of life! OR NOT!

In my youth a book arrived on the shelves of bookstores (back when there were actually shelves).

Carl Menninger wrote convincingly about the topic, “Whatever happened to sin?”  His thesis was that we had disregarded the matter of trespassing on sacred ground.  I suppose in the end, anarchy would be the result.

Until now, I thought we were still dealing with that thesis.

I’m not so sure any more.

We’re not even sure what sacred ground is anymore.

Until there is a place where we can say that something is sacred, we cannot say that there is sin.  The greatest eraser of a society is the brush that finally lets nothing be sacred and all things common.  In that case, the society reverts to individuals and the individual’s own sense of priority.  In which case anarchy arises.

So, what is sacred today?  If we boil it down to our own God within us, we will soon end our society in chaos and confusion.  If we boil it down to a group of people, the group will become fearful of outside influences and will implode. 

I guess we need a sacred that is outside of humanity in order to have a society that is peaceful.  Perhaps Christmas has something to do with that?

Friday and Saturday were spent going to, arriving in, returning from Calgary.

On the way I talked with some people about Rural Churches – initiatives, curriculum tracks and just the stuff that you encounter in a rural church.

Arriving in, we said “hi” to a relative and found out they were friends with some of our “on the way” people.

While in, I attended the launch of the Flourishing Congregations Institute at Ambrose University.  Accidentally I sat with a friend at the speakers table.  Good conversation throughout the day.  My wife met with three of our children throughout the day.

Returning from, we went directly to bed – church was the next day and we were on worship team.  For lunch, we ate with friends – whom I performed their wedding almost 40 years ago.  They are off to the south for a month, escaping the snow that is sure to fall in the next month!

And that was our weekend.  Short, sweet and sure to be remembered.