No, I've not taken to writing new slogans for Italian made cars that can be trusted. That is a Fi-at'. I am writing instead about fi'-at, the great "let it be done" in redemptive history. This fiat is not a resigned acceptance, a sort of spiritualized "que sera, sera, whatever will be will be." Rather… Continue reading Four Fiats
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A Healing Hand
After two days of a week long hospital stay, I would look up with some apprehension as the shift changed. A few times during that week I was met by the eager smile of a nurse who was present and communicated her desire to help me. But, too often, whether morning or evening, I was… Continue reading A Healing Hand
Light unto My Path
As a young child of the 60’s, I loved the “Sword Drills” in my Baptist Church. We would grasp on to our Bibles with tense expectancy until the teacher would call out a verse to find. And off we would go, scrambling to find the golden page that won us points, a certain amount of notoriety, and, at… Continue reading Light unto My Path
A Hard Master
I have been deeply imbedded in the sin of sloth this past week. No, this blog is not a confession, although it certainly could be. I have been teaching on hope and its opposite, sloth--that most invisible and most pervasive of sins in our contemporary context. One of the issues surrounding sloth is questioning why… Continue reading A Hard Master
The Wisdom of a Scribe
Today I had two encounters about speaking the truth in love. In both conversations the parties were wrestling with the burden of carrying wisdom that others were not yet ready to hear. What is the good of wisdom if it is not immediately transferable? We read Jesus’ brief parable: “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of… Continue reading The Wisdom of a Scribe
Orchestral Joy
In the end, we always performed our choral works with orchestral accompaniment. During my years at Bethel College we performed Handel’s Messiah, Mendelssohn’s St. Paul, Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors and the Faure Requiem. But first came the rehearsals where I, as the rehearsal accompanist, attempted to approximate the glory of orchestral majesty initially contained in eighty-eight… Continue reading Orchestral Joy
Ponderings and Good Soil
Mary is not only reflective during her 9 months of waiting. She is a ponderer--holding her experience close to her heart and waiting to see what it all might mean. Her reflections burst into joy with Elizabeth, but remain hidden when, later Mary treasures up what theshepherds have said and ponders their meaning in her… Continue reading Ponderings and Good Soil
Posture of Repentance
Our souls are created to look “up and out,” not “down and in.” One of the important implications of this reality is how we come to understand the mess inside, and then what to do with it. If “down and in” is a place where self talks to self, it is a closed system. I go on talking and… Continue reading Posture of Repentance
Riding a Rollercoaster on a Wave
Sometimes life needs more than one metaphor. My sister, Pam, and I constructed “riding a rollercoast on a wave” in one of those seasons where neither metaphor was sufficient in itself. Growing up playing on the sand of Lake Michigan and sitting on the rocks above Lake Superior, I love waves. I hate rollercoasters. I dislike the feeling… Continue reading Riding a Rollercoaster on a Wave
Scars
Most of us have them. I remember receiving my first one as I split open my left knee while jumping on the thin ice of a not-yet-completely-frozen puddle in rural Minnesota. While my doctor dad stitched up his first grade daughter I simultaneously received verbal instruction on why we don’t jump on icy puddles. I don’t know how… Continue reading Scars
Carla Waterman 