Lead with your ears
Today we begin our 2021 Lenten series. Let's talk about this, the strangest Lenten season ever, and walk through it together. What practices do you want to engage? What do you want to let go [...]
How has the pandemic formed you?
On a Zoom call with my long-time running buddy Maryam this morning, the day in between her birthday and mine, we looked back at a year. Would we have imagined a year like the one [...]
GodSpace for Groups!
I'm super excited to let you know that the long, careful writing and editing process for GodSpace:Embracing the Inconvenient Adventure of Intimacy with God is finished! This baby goes to the printer today. The editing [...]
When good things end: some thoughts on The Practice
The only constant in life is change. This is particularly true in dynamic organizations like Willow Creek, the church I’ve been a member of for three decades. While I have remained at my church, it [...]
Transformative silence
This is a noisy time of year. One of the best gifts we can give ourselves this time of year is the gift of silence, of peaceful reflection in the midst of the hustle and [...]
Trail running in the dark
I park across the road from the entrance to the forest preserve. A few moments later, I am crossing the road with two of my friends to walk past the gate, which is still closed [...]
Two essentials for transformation
Are people capable of change? Are you changing (for the better)? Am I? My books and teaching focus on spiritual transformation—that is, spiritual change. I’m prepping to speak later this week on transformation, how experiencing [...]
Five simple strategies for slowing down
We live hurried lives. We feel, as today's reading in Deeply Loved describes, restless and unsettled. Imagine someone telling you: "You are like a jar of river water all shaken up. What you need is [...]
Does church help us live like Jesus?
It’s Monday. How was church yesterday (if you went)? What, if anything, did you learn or discover while investing an hour or two in your local church? Did going to church yesterday help you to [...]
Always Trust Your Story
“When you find tears in your eyes, especially unexpected tears, it is well to pay the closest attention.” ----Frederick Beuchner Plowing through Facebook updates, I scroll quickly past political diatribe, cat meme, prayer requests from [...]
