In the beginning

Water & Wilderness (Week 1): Mark 1:9-11

In the beginning… God’s spirit hovered over the water (Genesis 1:1). Now, too, at the beginning of Jesus’ journey,  the Spirit hovers over the water  and descends. No sooner had he come up out of the water than he saw…the Spirit, like a dove… There is a voice: You are my Son, the Beloved; my favor rests on you.

How significant, to begin with blessing, with affirmation. Given before the wilderness, before the work. Not earned for doing well, in other words, but because of love and relationship. It’s foundational, pre-everything. — I enter the story to see, feel, and hear. How personal it is, this blessing, not offered in a secondhand way by saying to those roundabout, he is…, but letting them hear, you areContinue reading

Soon, time to journey

Yesterday, someone reminded me that I haven’t posted here for a while. I know.

I said that I have no opinions at the moment. Which isn’t quite true, of course. If there’s anything many of us have too much of, it’s opinions — and many opportunities to express them, from a simple “like” to a 140-character tweet to a post at a blog. Sometimes there are a lot of us talking.

But the real reason for the relative silence is that I’ve been pressed with other kinds of writing — a round of revision on my current novel project and preparing a talk I’m giving to a breakfast meeting tomorrow morning.

I’m hoping to pick up the pace at my blog, however, during the next six weeks…. Continue reading