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9 reasons you are such a know-it-all
Someone may have called you a know-it-all – maybe even to your face – and you are considering whether to listen to the criticism. This post might help you. Or maybe you are tired of co-workers...
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Biden in Israel: The problem with being the chosen ones
Being chosen is a wonderful thing. The surprising hit show The Chosen films the feeling wonderfully, most of the time. Everyone who finds themselves chosen by God — including Jesus appreciating his own...
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Right now and forever: Life at the end of the world
At least three of my clients last week were talking about the end of the world. When the Circle Counseling therapists got together for their monthly meeting, I asked them if they had similar...
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If creation were friendly, how would you love?
It is not that easy to be a human, easy to be married, or easy to love your neighbor as yourself when you forget to love yourself. And it is strangely easy to just forget about love altogether. John...
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What Makes for a Non-Consumeristic Church?
I did not create as many messages in 2008 because I was gifted a four-month sabbatical. Before I left, I answered a question someone offered. I want to answer a question that someone slipped into the...
View ArticleWhat will it be when deep calls to deep today?
Deep unto deep calls out at the sound of Your channels. All Your breakers and waves have surged over me. By day the Lord ordains His kindness and by night His song is with me –- prayer to the God of...
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Dissociation: Alive and unwell on the sidewalk and TikTok
I often need to study issues which show up with loved ones in my office. So I was studying how people experience dissociation. I paused to go out and see if the workers were finished with the new...
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In this age of fear it is hold the pickles and the human contact.
The Taco Bell Defy store prototype arguably started the drive-thru makeover trend nationally. In the summer of 2021, hot off the deepest trough of the pandemic, the first Taco Bell Defy store was...
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Accept the one whose faith is weak (2009)
In 2009 my former church was going through growing pains. We were organized in a way that required many leaders to take initiative and get along. This speech reflects that. In the letter to the church...
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Is choice a spiritual problem? (2010)
In 2010 our church was coming to its fullness in number and effectiveness. This speech reflects how we were forming a sense of “alternativity.” Serious people. A little late in the game, I imagined...
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The Pregnable Fortress
We invite each other to write a Christmas story every year. Here is mine from 2016. John did not like his new home very much. And he was quite sure his mother’s sister and her husband did not like him...
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I’m wasted, but I am not wasting the 12 Days of Christmas
I looked at my journal earlier today and noticed my first reference to Nyquil was on December 5. I had a week’s respite for a vacation (so there ARE miracles) and then I was in bed for three days...
View ArticleTop Ten Posts of 2023
2023 Group communication “sad?” Try on some Virginia Satir. My new group reminded me of two things Virginia Satir taught me: 1) Tell your own story, 2) Be aware of your communication style. Slander...
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There is a lot of bloom left in you, too.
When we first moved into our high-rise condo overlooking the park and the Philadelphia skyline, we were, along with all our neighbors, shut into our units by the pandemic. Not good. What’s more, our...
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A meditation to help us face 2024
Are you or your friends scared to face 2024? After everyone finished their reports on the December sicknesses last week, many people went on to report their anxiety about the coming year — for some it...
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The basic motivation that keeps us going.
I noticed an uptick in my motivation this morning. My zip contrasted with the nagging zapped feeling several of my clients reported. My energy was also right on the heels of a client’s sense of victory...
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Did the devil write The Sound of Music?
“What?!” the Evangelicals say, “The only movie my parents would allow me to watch has now become subjected to the latest litmus test?” Well, if that is how you want to see it, yes. Call it...
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Is it disobedient to be afraid? (2012)
In my long stint as a Philly pastor, I often answered “frequently asked questions.” This speech reflects a time when someone asked me, “Is it disobedient to be afraid?” Someone must have asked me for...
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The screens vs. the real intimacy of the soul
A.I. Irish forest When John O’Donohue published Anam Cara: A Celtic Book of Wisdom in 1997, Bill Clinton and Tony Blair presided over the politics of the West. At that time, here in Philadelphia, we...
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Judith Viorst’s Necessary Losses: A helpful guide through your loss for Lent
Judith Viorst’s Necessary Losses (1986) is a book I have recommended many times to friends and clients over the years. If you are ready to meet an honest but encouraging guide as you move through the...
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