Christian Formation

I love shoveling the sidewalk in front of our house after a fresh snowfall. I don’t always get to see immediate, tangible benefits in the kind of work I do for a living. So I take particular pleasure in doing things, like shoveling a sidewalk, that show clear and obvious benefits. And because we live in a walking community, I value being able to make a clear and safe path for the many people who walk by our house every day. It snowed an inch or two overnight last week, which given our lack of snow this year in Wisconsin, was a welcome morning sight. I was home on vacation, feeling lazy, and for once was in no hurry to clear the new snow off the sidewalk. I could see that there was no ice and that people had no trouble using the sidewalk and so I didn’t get out…

Yesterday I took our now dried and brittle Christmas tree and placed it on the curb in front of our home. It wasn’t alone out there as many of our neighbors had recently done the same. Even though Christmas is over, it’s still a sad sight to see all the once beautiful Christmas trees waiting now out in the cold to be picked up and taken away. There is a lesson I find in these discarded trees that applies to a favorite activity this time of year, the making of New Year’s resolutions. Trees die quickly once they are cut off from their roots, and the same is true of resolutions. If we only focus on the what we want to change rather than the underlying why, there is a good chance our resolve to change will not last. Connecting with the why we want to change something helps us…

A common teaching of many spiritual traditions involves the practice of learning to love and find peace with life just as it is in the present moment. This teaching is an antidote to the prevailing thinking of “I will not be happy, or I won’t find peace until _____ happens.” This, you see, translates into something like, “I can’t find love and peace within my life, or with this person, until some time in the future when the change I want to occur finally happens. Then and only then will I be happy.” Thinking that contentment cannot happen until some preferred future unfolds is a tempting form of distraction from not allowing ourselves to love things as they are and to be happy in the present moment. Another type of distraction from fully embracing the present is holding on to or wishing for the past. “If only it could be…

This past weekend I had the honor to officiate at the wedding of my nephew, Mark, and his wife, Jennie. In my remarks at the ceremony, I chose to reflect on the age-old question, “What is love?” because I wanted to share a perspective that was perhaps new for many of the people listening. It is common to think of love as a feeling one has for another. While feelings are certainly one aspect of love, what I believe, and what I shared in my remarks, is that love is most importantly, a decision. Feelings ebb and flow in all relationships (marriage and otherwise), and yet the decision to act with love is a choice that is always possible. If you think of the people that you love and that love you, you will likely realize that the expression of that love has involved countless decisions over time that have…

Throughout the world this past week, churches held special services for the blessing of animals. People young and old brought their pets to the service to have them prayed over and blessed. When I have had the honor to help at these services, I have blessed beloved dogs, cats, hamsters, guinea pigs, birds, fish, and even a few stuffed animals that children lovingly brought with them to church. I have friends who have blessed horses, cows, goats, rats, and snakes! The reason these services were happening this week is because it the time of year that churches remember is the Francis of Assisi, otherwise known as St. Francis, who died on October 3, 1226. Francis was well known for his love of nature and of animals, and he regularly preached about the importance of learning to be good stewards of all of God’s creation. One saying attributed to Francis appears…

My wife and I just returned from a two-week Spanish language immersion experience in Cuernavaca, Mexico. It was indeed one of the most profound experiences of my life. We lived with a local host family, and so our learning experience was not just limited to the six hours of formal instruction we received each day. Mexico has always been our favorite place to visit because the people are so warm, soulful, and welcoming. This recent experience only confirmed this truth many times over. We had been considering taking this plunge for some time and finally got up our courage to do it. I thought that deciding to sign up and go would be the hardest part of the process, but soon after arriving, I faced an even more difficult decision that I had to make. I have studied Spanish sporadically throughout my adult life, even taking private online lessons with…