by Guy Sayles | Jun 4, 2013 |
I sometimes ask the divinity school students I work with to consider their “non-negotiables”: the beliefs, convictions, and practices which are so central and crucial to their understanding of what it means to be a human being and to be a follower of Jesus that they...
by Guy Sayles | May 24, 2013 |
Here are sketchy notes from a talk I recently gave to parents of children at First Baptist Church of Asheville. A mother of two preschool children was cleaning her kitchen one morning, hoping to get the breakfast dishes put in the dishwasher, the milk and cereal...
by Guy Sayles | May 16, 2013 |
A lot of us aren’t living the kind of life we were made to live. In our rare moments of clear self-awareness, when the fog of confusion lifts and the clouds of illusion melt, we can see the distance between who we are and who we’re meant to be. The good...
by Guy Sayles | May 4, 2013 |
There are things we can’t know instantly or do easily. We have to grow into them; our capacities have to develop, and our abilities have to expand. Quite often, practice and experience often precede skill or wisdom. You don’t start playing golf at Augusta...
by Guy Sayles | May 1, 2013 |
“My church is just like family to me,” the middle aged man said. “I feel closer to the people in our church than I do to my own brothers and sisters; I just don’t know what I’d do without them.” A lot of people use family language to talk about the church....
by Guy Sayles | Apr 23, 2013 |
We base all of our relationships on expectations. They might be acknowledged or hidden, spoken or silent, but we shape all of our relationships around them. Sometimes we make those expectations explicit: for instance, we exchange wedding vows, or sign...
by Guy Sayles | Apr 15, 2013 |
Leonard Cohen’s “Anthem” opens with these words: The birds they sang at the break of day Start again I heard them say. Starting again is what so many of us want to do, or wish we could do, or try but fail to do. We long for daybreak on a new life and the dawning of...
by Guy Sayles | Mar 29, 2013 |
I remember when our daughter, Amanda, discovered her hands. I heard her quietly cooing, gently-jabbering, and, from time to time, gleefully giggling from her crib. I peeked into the little room which we had turned into a nursery; she was resting on her...
by Guy Sayles | Mar 23, 2013 |
There is something in us—something sacred, I believe—which recoils from the idea that the universe is its own explanation, that our existence here is a happy but meaningless stroke of cosmic luck, and that there is no Artist, no Designer, and no Life-Giver behind,...
by Guy Sayles | Mar 19, 2013 |
We said the following Affirmation of Discipleship in worship at First Baptist Church of Asheville yesterday: I take up my cross to follow Jesus. Because Jesus commands me, I will love God with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength. I will love my...
Recent Comments