by Guy Sayles | Feb 24, 2014 |
In his novel, The Sense of an Ending, Julian Barnes has the narrator, Tony, ruefully compare his life to that of his old friend, Adrian: What did I know of life, I who had lived so carefully? Who had neither won nor lost, but just let life happen to him? ...
by Guy Sayles | Feb 20, 2014 |
In the model prayer Jesus gave to his followers, Jesus urged us to talk with God about, among other things, how the world isn’t yet the way God wants it to be: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Latin American theologian Leonardo...
by Guy Sayles | Feb 17, 2014 |
When I was a boy, there were Sunday night services at the First Baptist Church of Conley, GA. When a service would finally end—too late to see the Wonderful World of Disney or to catch the end of the Ed Sullivan show—our pastor would call on one of our deacons...
by Guy Sayles | Feb 13, 2014 |
The title piece of William Stafford’s “New and Selected Poems” is “The Way It Is”:There is a thread you follow. It goes amongthings that change. But it doesn’t change.People wonder about what you are pursuing.You have to...
by Guy Sayles | Feb 10, 2014 |
Freedom, joy and generosity grow in us when we see ourselves in the true light of God’s abundant grace—when we allow God’s own generosity to heal our eyes so that we may see that there is more than enough, especially more than enough love, for all of us. Our...
by Guy Sayles | Feb 6, 2014 |
On my birthday last year, I wrote these words in my journal: I want to know more about the power of gentleness, the courage of vulnerability, the expansiveness of honored limits, the serious work humor can do, the faith which doubt inspires, and the...
by Guy Sayles | Feb 2, 2014 |
From a statement I made to my friends at First Baptist Church in Asheville today: I need your prayers for wisdom and for courage as I deal with some hard news I have recently received. Over the last week or so, following an array of tests, I have learned that I have...
by Guy Sayles | Jan 31, 2014 |
In a NYT editorial earlier this week, David Brooks mentioned the music of Audrey Assad. I didn’t know about her or her music, but I tracked it down online. Among many lyrically, as well as musically, fine songs is “Show Me.” I find...
by Guy Sayles | Jan 29, 2014 |
Back in December, I posted a reflection on how the incarnation—God’s becoming flesh in Jesus—was a ground of assurance that we may trust the goodness and love of God. God is, the incarnation makes clear, like Jesus. Another crucial truth of the incarnation...
by Guy Sayles | Jan 26, 2014 |
Near the end of Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved, Paul D., a freed slave, tells Sethe, a woman who escaped slavery but remains haunted by her memories of it: “Me and you, we got more yesterday than anybody. We need some kind of tomorrow.” We can be chained to...
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