Tag Archives: reconciliation

Poem: Nailing it!

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When it came to sin
Christ nailed it!
Yet on my own
I failed it!

We’re called to love
Each other
Yet I can’t stand
My brother

We like to say
We’re nice
But pain makes us
Think twice

If you touch on
My trauma
Prepare to feel
The drama

I call my soul
To worship
So He can turn
This warship

Dissolving sin’s
Dividing
Through gracious Re-
Conciling

Let Him rewrite
My story
So all can see
His glory

LifeView: Part-y of God [from iHack]

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Over on my professional blog iHack, I’ve been working through the excellent book Designing Your Life. In addition to articulating a philosophy of work (WorkView), they challenge us to write down a philosophy of life (LifeView).

Since that obviously overlaps with my spiritual journaling here, I decided to repost it.

To move forward Together

We must internalize And reconcile

The excluded pain That enabled us

To become Us By creating Them

LifeView (Designing Your Life)

DADS Confrontational Devotion

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Dedicated to my Father.

DECLARE Truth

  1. God is in control.
  2. We are absolutely on track for the future He has for us and our loved ones.
  3. How quickly and thoroughly we yield to Him determines how fast and painful it will be to reach that future

ASK Better Questions

a) What in Ernie needs to change?
b) What in me needs to change?

DOCUMENT Listening

  1. Set a time to seek the Holy Spirit for answers
  2. Write down whatever you hear

SHARE Results

  1. Present it to me as “This is what I think I heard,”
  2. Not “This is what I think you should do.”
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TGR-S6E2d1: Family Time

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Q. How should we react when other people hurt us, or they claim that we hurt them?

P. Seek to Ground our identity and security in Christ, so we can respond with curiosity and compassion rather than fear or anger

When I feel threatened, my natural instinct is either fear (giving in) or anger (taking over). I am learning that neither of these is very effective at spreading the Kingdom of God; though both may be expedient in terms of protecting the self, at least in the short term.

Conversely, when the challenge is not in an area that threatens my identity, I find myself relaxed and eager to engage with understanding all sides of the issue. I am able to focus on ensuring that others feel heard, and become confident enough to explore creative ways of solving the underlying problems.

How do we build a community and practices where all of us can feel safer confronting the emotional issues that define both our identities and our differences?

LEAD! B.8 From Anger to Reconciliation

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In Which We Forgive Those Who Don’t Deserve It, Because We Don’t Either

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” — Matthew 5:5
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” — Matthew 5:9

Anger is unique among the seven deadly sins in that, in general, anger isn’t even a sin (cf. Ephesians 4:26). At one level, it is simply an emotional reaction to having our boundaries crossed. And at the highest level, anger is actually a virtue, since it is a significant part of God’s character — i.e., the “name” to which we are being conformed!

At the same time, anger is also the name of one of the most violent and dangerous sins. We can define sinful anger as a self-righteous passion for punishing those who offend us. This is why anger is so empowering and so deadly: it magnifies the sins of others to the point where we ignore our own.

Because anger is so devastating, we need to combat it with both meekness — the ability to restrain our passions in submission to God’s rule — and peacemaking, which seeks restoration and reconciliation instead of revenge.

Of course, that is easier said then done…

Assigned Reading
  1. Peter Kreeft: Back to Virtue

    • 10. The Meek and the Peacemakers vs. The Anger-driven
  2. Dick Hockett: Foundations of Wisdom
    • 3.4 (Gentle and healing) Example: Proverbs about the Tongue

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LEAD! Part B: Christian Character

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As mentioned earlier, the LEAD! Bible Study is a tripod, built on three legs:

  • theological education
  • character formation
  • skill development

Having finished writing the lessons for Part A, we now turn out attention to the second trimester (which the class will start in January). This blog post is for the initial outline; as before, the final version will be part of the living syllabus at https://2transform.us/lead/
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