Devotion
On Listening…
Please Listen When I ask you to listen to me and you start giving me advice, you have not done what I asked. When I ask you to listen to me and you begin to tell me why I shouldn’t feel that way, you are trampling on my feelings. When I ask you to listen […]
NEW YEARS’ RESOLUTIONS: Do they actually work?
Sometimes we preachers are asked ¢â‚¬ËœHow long do you take to prepare a sermon? ¢â‚¬â„¢ There are two answers to that: (1) ¢â‚¬ËœThe whole of my life ¢â‚¬â„¢ (2) ¢â‚¬ËœAbout a week, mostly ¢â‚¬â„¢ ¢â‚¬ ¦ This past week I must have read half a dozen articles in the press about the pros and cons of making New Years’ Resolutions ¢â‚¬ ¦ […]
Christmas reflection 2014
by Nils von Kalm http://nilsvonkalm.com 100 years ago this year, during the First World War, the Christmas truce took place between British, German and French soldiers in the trenches on the Western Front. On Christmas Eve 1914, soldiers from opposing sides, who were stationed there to kill each other, instead got to know one another, […]
Affirmation and Purpose (Whose is that face staring back at me?)
“Anyone who needs 50,000 people a night to tell them they’re OK has to have a bit missing. And I do mean that in terms of your sense of self ¢â‚¬ – Bono ¢â‚¬Å“Everybody ¢â‚¬â„¢s famous here but nobody ¢â‚¬â„¢s known. ¢â‚¬ – U2, Lucifer ¢â‚¬â„¢s Hands We live in a society where more and more people don ¢â‚¬â„¢t know what […]
Why I’ve had enough of being spiritual
First glance at a heading like this might cause some confusion. ¢â‚¬Å“But isn’t God spirit? Jesus himself says so, so what ¢â‚¬â„¢s the problem with any attempt at being spiritual? ¢â‚¬ Jesus did indeed say that God is spirit, in his incredible conversation with the woman at the well in John 4. And because Jesus said it, […]
LIVING UNTIL I DIE
My aim is to die young as late as possible. I am determined to live each day till I die rather than die a little each day that I live. For me, life is a gift, and the way to make the most of it Is to seek out the Giver and to try […]
Acceptance, Repentance: subject/object relationships
If you put love-before-worth jmm into Google you’ll read three of my most controversial sermons! Excerpts: ~~ From a wedding homily at http://www.jmm.org.au/articles/33687.htm : 2. ACCEPTANCE. This is the basic idea in the Christian concept of ¢â‚¬Ëœgrace ¢â‚¬â„¢. I am loved by God before I change, before I ¢â‚¬Ëœdeserve ¢â‚¬â„¢ to be loved. This love-before-worth […]
My Mid-life Crisis
Figuring out my mid-life crisis by Nils von Kalm http://soulthoughts.com I turned 45 this year, so I guess it ¢â‚¬â„¢s about time I had a midlife crisis. Mine has been partly self-inflicted and partly forced upon me. I suppose that ¢â‚¬â„¢s they way they happen though. No one really chooses to go through a crisis of identity. […]
‘Happiness’ vs ‘Joy’
¢â‚¬â€¹HAPPINESS AND JOY ARE NOT THE SAME In a memorable Peanuts cartoon Lucy asks Charlie Brown ¢â‚¬ËœDid you ever know anyone who was really happy? ¢â‚¬â„¢ Before she could finish the question Snoopy the dog comes dancing into the next frame. As only Snoopy can he dances his merry way across all frames while Lucy and […]
LIVING WITH AMBIGUITY (Q&R)
LIVING WITH AMBIGUITY My thoughts are not your thoughts and your ways are not my ways, declares Yahweh. For the heavens are as high above earth as my ways are above your ways, my thoughts above your thoughts. We know only imperfectly… When I was a child, I used to talk like a child, and […]
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