In which I stumble down one. more. step.

January 13, 2011

I sat across the huge desk of the Dean of Students. On the line was my Seminary degree. His hands were folded, index fingers connected, making the church steeple out of them. It was a chance for me to listen to wisdom, and read between lines, and be humble. But I didn’t know then what […]

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In which there are excuses, excuses…

January 12, 2011

Walking along the beach, on the sand that’s right on the border between the grainy part and the mushy part. You know, the sweet spot where a little further out means you’re all wet, and a little further in and each step is too much work. Yeah, that spot. Along I went. I was reading, […]

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In which we have an abbreviated steps 6 and 7 of the twelve…

January 11, 2011

Yesterday was too much poured into one day. I whimper my way through some details on the sister site (here).  But I want you to have some theology to chew on. Bernard of Clairvaux is pretty smart – he doesn’t really need me rewriting him. So here are steps 6 and 7 of the Twelve […]

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In which pride becomes all too recognizable

January 10, 2011

The venom of pride can be lethal to faith. Without faith there can be no eternal life. With no eternal life only this life remains, and then death, and then worse. I’ve been sitting at the feet of Bernard of Clairvaux, learning of the steps of pride that lead to spiritual disaster. First comes a […]

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In which being bouncy, flouncy, trouncy and pouncy are step three…

January 7, 2011

12 descending steps of pride which in the end destroy all intimacy with God. Because where pride rules, love cannot abide. Step one is here, step two is here. And now the third of Bernard of Clairvaux’s 900 year old Steps: “Foolish Mirth” Doesn’t sound so bad does it? It sounds like Bernard is just […]

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In which mountans treated like molehills take me down…

January 6, 2011

“Evil can have no beginning but from pride, and no end but from humility. The truth is this: Pride must die in you, or nothing of heaven can live in you…for the one is death and the other is life”  Spirit of Prayer, Edition of Morton, Canterbury (1893) Off the beaten path from my study […]

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In which we find the original 12 step program – from 900 years ago

January 5, 2011

God gives grace to the humble.  Pride is always a reason for the withdrawal of grace.  Humility therefore is a necessary condition of grace. It was 900 years ago, in France, and a little monastery was falling away, and monk was called in to save it. This Monk was Bernard of Clairvaux and he reformed […]

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In which there’s a bath and a bathrobe…

January 4, 2011

It’s all about scraping off the muck, coming clean, and then putting on that fluffy, fleecy, comfy, expensive bathrobe (which we shall not steal). Therefore, put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls. (James 1:21) The first part […]

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In which James uses language his mom would slap him for…

January 3, 2011

If the mother of James the Just knew the language he was using in his letter… But before we get to that we have the first word in the verse. Probably best not to skip over the first word. You may have heard this before, but when there’s a therefore in a verse, we have […]

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In which anger derails a perfectly blissful day

December 31, 2010

Anger is a sneaky thing, not always what we think, and not always bad, and almost always destructive. So I’m in my old Seminary library reading about James, and writing, and translating, and digging into church history. You know, just your everyday gleeful kind of stuff. It’s easy to study about anger when anger really […]

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