Tag Archives: culture
A Negative Matrix
What Do We Do with Evil? A Negative Matrix Monday, October 12, 2020 One reason we lost interest in the concept of sin is because we usually heard it being used to judge, shame, exclude, or control others or ourselves. Seldom was the concept of sin used to bring discernment or deeper understanding, much less… Continue Reading A Negative Matrix
The Nature of Evil
What Do We Do with Evil? The Nature of Evil Sunday, October 11, 2020 Over the years, it has become increasingly clear to me that we are confused about the nature of evil. We don’t seem to understand what evil is, how it operates, or what we can do, personally or collectively, to reduce its… Continue Reading The Nature of Evil
Nodding to the Shadow
Shadow Work Nodding to the Shadow Wednesday, September 11, 2019 I want to emphasize that the shadow is not inherently evil or wrong; it varies from culture to culture. In the United States today, white dominant culture prizes competition, urgency, individualism, niceness (or avoidance of conflict), and logic. Other values and ways of being, such… Continue Reading Nodding to the Shadow
Shadowboxing
Shadow Work Shadowboxing Sunday, September 8, 2019 Our shadow self is any part of ourselves or our institutions that we try to hide or deny because it seems socially unacceptable. The church and popular media primarily focus on sexuality and body issues as our “sinful” shadow, but that is far too narrow a definition. The… Continue Reading Shadowboxing
Cross-cultural Discipleship
Unity and Diversity Cross-cultural Discipleship Wednesday, June 5, 2019 If God is always Mystery, then God is always in some way the unfamiliar, beyond what we’re used to, beyond our comfort zone, beyond what we can explain or understand. Many first learn to love and know God through the familiar, human face of Jesus and… Continue Reading Cross-cultural Discipleship
Church Was Supposed to Be an Alternative Society
Community Church Was Supposed to Be an Alternative Society Wednesday, May 9, 2018 Living in community means living in such a way that others can access me and influence my life and that I can get “out of myself” and serve the lives of others. Community is a world where brotherliness and sisterliness are possible.… Continue Reading Church Was Supposed to Be an Alternative Society
Jesus’ Alternative Reality
Jesus of Nazareth: Week 1 Jesus’ Alternative Reality Thursday, January 18, 2018 I am told that there are three kinds of cultures in the Western world today, each with its own “bottom line”: political cultures based on the manipulation of power, economic cultures based on the manipulation of money, and religious cultures based on the… Continue Reading Jesus’ Alternative Reality
Letting Go of the False Self
Self-Emptying Letting Go of the False Self Tuesday, December 12, 2017 (Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe) Meister Eckhart, the German Dominican mystic (c. 1260-c.1328), said that spirituality has much more to do with subtraction than it does with addition. [1] Yet our culture, both secular and Christian, seems obsessed with addition: getting rich, becoming… Continue Reading Letting Go of the False Self
An Economy of Grace
Law and Grace An Economy of Grace Tuesday, May 23, 2017 God’s freely given grace is a humiliation to the ego because free gifts say nothing about being strong, superior, or moral. Thus only the soul can understand grace, never the mind or the ego. The ego does not know how to receive things freely… Continue Reading An Economy of Grace
