A Fresh Perspective

I don’t know if there is any truth to it or not, but the story is told that when Britain faced a critical shortage of silver during the days of WWII Winston Churchill launched a search of possible sources of silver. They discovered some sterling silver statutes of saints in some of their churches and cathedrals. When Churchill was made aware of this he said, “Well, it’s time to put the saints into circulation.”  This parable is about saints in circulation. Jesus is addressing his followers. In Matthew’s Gospel there are five major discourses attributed to Jesus, this parable is part of the last teaching block that begins in 24:1. Jesus and his disciples had just come out of the temple. His disciples were admiring the beautiful buildings when Jesus warned of the temple’s coming destruction. Then they walked over to the Mount of Olives and Matthew says that the disciples came to him privately with their questions about the destruction of the temple and end of the age. Tha...

In a go-go world, what could be worse than silence, being still, doing nothing? It is the “doing nothing” that engenders guilt and anxiety, that evokes fear.  This is precisely why we so desperately need stillness. Stillness strips us of our illusions that we are so important life can’t go on without us. It can and will easy enough, and stillness helps us come to terms with our smallness. Stillness often reveals and exposes the spiritual and moral emptiness of our lives. Instead of fishing in the shallows for approval, applause, and accolades, which is what we do in our busyness and constant activity, stillness sends us out into the deeper water, where we must explore the depths of our souls, where we must face the mass of contradictions we all are, where there is both terror and beauty. Only here, in the depths, can real healing and liberation take place. In learning to accept and forgive ourselves, we are able to accept and forgive others.   In stillness we lea...

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul instructs: “Do not get drunk with wine . . . but be filled with the Spirit” (5:18). He compares the Spirit’s fullness to drunkenness. One who is intoxicated is under the influence of alcohol and that influence impacts and affects one’s thinking and behavior. By way of analogy, the one who is filled with the Spirit comes under the influence of a different Reality, a Divine Reality, and that Reality impacts and influences one’s thinking and behavior. This command is an active-passive command. Paul exhorts the faith community to be filled with the Spirit, yet the filling of the Spirit is not completely within the community’s control. In John’s Gospel, the Spirit is compared to wind that blows where it will. It’s beyond human coercion and manipulation. Yet, there are things we can do to set our sails in the direction that the wind is blowing and live within the flow of the Spirit’s power. A River Runs Through It  was a book from which a mo...