Body, Mind, Vine, and Fruit

My seminary brother Rob Pierson offered a whole pamphlet in response to my Siphonophore message last week.  His is a more positive metaphoric understanding of community — not as a self-serving institutional organism, but as a relational expression of the mind of Christ.  Rob has given me permission to share his pamphlet with you, so I’m attaching it below.  Rob is a remarkable soul, and I recommend reading this, and anything else he writes.  (I also recommend spending time with his photographic artwork, if you can find it.  How’s that web site coming, Rob?)

The seminary Rob and I attended is the Earlham School of Religion.  It’s a community rooted in the Quaker tradition, which is Rob’s faith family too, though not mine.  A “pamphlet,” in that tradition, is a monograph inspired by the Spirit; it’s a time-honored medium for written ministry.  In Rob’s pamphlet, you might find one or two terms that are used in unfamiliar, Quakerly ways: clearness committee, testimonies, business meeting, and so on.  But his message is universal and accessible.  I hope you’ll enjoy it.

Body, Mind, Vine, and Fruit

2016-07-10T12:45:42-05:00July 7, 2016|0 Comments

On Not Having Heard from God Recently

Have you ever asked God to tell you what to do?  I have …

[youtube id=xLvBpU8n4g4]

Leave a comment and tell us a story: have you ever received clear instructions from God?  Did you ask for them?

P.S. — Here’s the text of that poem.

On Not Having Heard From God Recently

I think that if I were King,
I'd want a captain who doesn't keep asking,
	What should I do now?
I'd want an agent who knows what I want,
	and does it,
	and rarely asks for advice or permission.
I'd want an independent servant,
	someone I have to seek out
	to comfort from time to time.

I'd find her in the field, at night,
	in the chapel there alone, with her weapons beside her.
I'd sit down next to her,
	pray with her.

After a while, just as dawn began to lighten the sky, I'd say:
	Hello, Captain.
	It's me.
I just want you to know, I'm grateful for all you do.
Anything I can do for you?
Anything you need?

And my captain would smile,
	maybe for the first time in days,
	and she'd say:
No thanks, Boss.
I've got it covered.
2016-03-28T16:54:49-05:00March 28, 2016|2 Comments

Snow Day

No school today on account of snow — in our local public schools, and at Central Michigan University as well. Reminds me of another of those songs we used to sing when I was a boy. This was a parody of an old vaudeville and music hall song:

Ta ra ra boom de ay
There is no school today
The teacher passed away
She died of tooth decay
We threw her in the bay
She scared the fish away
And when we took her out
She smelled like sauerkraut

Heartless little beasts, weren’t we?

2016-02-25T09:27:30-06:00February 25, 2016|0 Comments

Food Memory Prayer

This is a guided prayer practice using a happy food memory.  Take ten minutes of quiet time and try it.  I don’t appear in the video at all, but there’s a red-headed woodpecker that comes and goes.

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What food memory did you use?  How did that work for you?

2016-01-18T19:59:07-06:00January 18, 2016|3 Comments
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