The most famous origin story of the Buddha goes something like this: A sheltered young prince slips away from his father’s estate one day and is confronted with the harsh realities he has not been allowed to see: poverty, hunger, sickness, old age. Once his innocent bubble is popped, there’s no turning back and the … Continue reading A Moment of Truth (A Reflection on Exodus 2.1-15)
I'm trying something new here this week that may or may not become a recurring element on the blog: Some short reflections on news stories that I feel deserve comment. Without further ado: Hospitality and the Billy Graham RuleThe ‘Billy Graham Rule’? Candidate refuses to meet with women unless a man comes along For those … Continue reading In the News (Week ending July 13, 2019)
As the lectionary continues its journey through Genesis, I’m continuing to spend time with some of the challenging stories of the Patriarchs, the faithful (yet wholly dysfunctional) first family of Western Religion. Two weeks ago, we saw how God stepped into the very messy situation surrounding Abraham and Sarah’s scheming to get Abraham an heir … Continue reading Seen (An Integral Reading of Genesis 32.22-32)
In this week’s post on character strengths, or the good fruit our lives can bear, we turn to forgiveness. This is a — if not the — foundational Christian teaching and practice, but it has become very controversial in popular culture in recent years. As society has shifted its consciousness more and more towards the … Continue reading Forgiveness
As regular readers may know, I’ve been making a point lately of using the assigned readings from the Hebrew Bible for my lectio divina practice. Because these texts often raise difficult questions, I’ve been intentional about engaging them within an integral framework to get as expansive a reading as I can. (I’ve included a brief … Continue reading Bound / Freed (An Integral Reading of Genesis 22)
Matthew Root 