Reflections on the loving kindness of the Triune God
Social misconduct in the 1980’s—such as a man walking away from his marriage—was often linked to the notion of identity, as in “he’s having an identity crisis.” I’m not sure what light the label of ‘identity crisis’ actually shed on the man’s decision except to lift the onus a bit. “Not much to be done,” …
Read More An Identity CrisisAt this time of year—with Thanksgiving as the launching of the Christmas sales period—all the avid consumers in America go wild. My Thursday newspaper, full of “black Friday” sales, weighed almost as much as the turkey I’ll be enjoying later today. Backbreaking stuff! It’s the season when things we don’t really need are being marketed …
Read More “How YOU can be more Godly!”A man who already had his PhD warned me before I started my own adventure, “Be sure to pick a topic you can live with. If you pick something that doesn’t satisfy, you’ll pay for it!” Good advice, and advice I followed when I selected Richard Sibbes as my subject of study! Getting to know …
Read More My friend RichardIn my college days I spent a summer piloting a fishing boat in and around Ketchikan, Alaska. In learning the job I recall my first extended shift of piloting by myself as we traveled up from Seattle to Ketchikan. We followed the scenic but often narrow “inside passage” among the islands just off the Canadian …
Read More “In the beginning God . . .”I was once at a weekend retreat, speaking about God’s overflowing love. “This triune love,” I said, “explains the creation as God’s selfless giving of himself in a work of joy. The creation was made to receive and reciprocate that love.” I pointed, for support, to Genesis 3 where God came “walking in the …
Read More Which starting point?The LORD is my shepherd, so I don’t lack anything. I learned that from David ben Jesse—the biblical King David—who was called a man after God’s own heart. He was called that by God himself! But “after God’s own heart“? That is intriguing because I most often hear about God’s will, or of his knowledge, …
Read More Finding Good ShepherdsWhat makes God attractive? Is it his aesthetics—his ability to form grand galaxies, only now seen by us, with a dramatic range of variegated shades, shapes, and brilliance of light? Or his intimate gift of sending small spiders to spin intricate webs that first catch the morning dew and then capture the first rays of …
Read More Our Attractive GodThat God is both one and many in the same moment is both incomprehensible and satisfying. His one-and-many Being grounds his goodness. God, in his unity, is never divisible except as he made space in himself at the cross for us to enter his embrace. All goes wrong if we think of him as a …
Read More God’s spreading goodness