Category: Spirituality
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The Illusion of Leadership
Henri Nouwen writes, The great illusion of leadership is to think that man can be led out of the desert by someone who has never been there. Our lives are filled with examples which tell us that leadership asks for understanding and that understanding requires sharing. So long as we define leadership in terms of…
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The Bitterness of the Gospel
The man walked away depressed. Jesus had just told him that to gain eternal life he would have to give up all that he had and sell everything. Since he was rich, the news wasn’t all that good. As the man walked away, Jesus told those standing around how difficult it was for the rich…
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Law of the Heart
"…did Jesus support the law or undermine it? What was at stake was his implicit, and sometimes explicit, claim: that in and through his own work Israel’s god was doing a new thing, or rather the new thing, that for which Israel had longed. And when that happened everything would be different. Torah could regulate…
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A Difficult Faith
I was reading a section from Urban T. Holmes, III A History of Christian Spirituality and something caught my eye. As Holmes was discussion Richard Baxter and his classic work The Reformed Pastor he had this comment, "He is more rigid than Ignatius ever was, however. We must not be too hard on Baxter. He…
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The Point is Love
Jesus’ command to love hasn’t escaped my notice. When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus agreed that it was to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves. It seems so clear, yet, I find it difficult. As I spend time with the spiritual masters…