Between Toxic Positivity and a Deus Remotus…
Toxic positivity is a new buzz word which rightly laments the irritating habit of attributing something positive to everything that happens, the kind of “if life serves you lemons, make lemonade” mindset which undergirds most bumper stickers and many sermon slogans. It’s an attitude that makes it near impossible to own failure, unless it is spoken of in the past tense: “Once long ago, before I solved everything.” It leaves us viewing lament with suspicion, and blocks attempts to face and own the pain of life. You can find it in the workplace, in churches and in...
Read MoreWhere our best prayers take us…
My previous post noted the passing of Frederick Buechner and tapped into some of his wisdom. In this one I’d like to explore a passing comment which appears in a series of rapid fire advice in his memoir Telling Secrets. It’s:”Go where your best prayers take you.” Why do I love this? First, it’s refreshing to acknowledgment that some prayers are better than others – we have our “best prayers”, but also our selfish prayers, our tiny prayers, our insular prayers, our sectarian prayers, our fearful prayers. What do our best prayers look like? They...
Read MoreReclaiming and Redeeming Gossip…
It was a prayer meeting I was at several decades ago. The person praying suddenly asked that God would help James and Jenni (yes, I have changed their names) in their marriage problems, especially after their last major argument which had been overheard by neighbours and was really very ugly. As the prayer elaborated on each detail of this troubled marriage I heard the person next to me say excitedly, “oooh, really” and then a little later, “didn’t know that”. This was prayer as gossip, and our well attended weekly prayer meeting was a great source of...
Read MoreOn Praying for Parking Bays: Does God Intervene?
Photo Jack Sharp: Unsplash In my new book Why Christianity is Probably True I discuss some experiences where God intervened in my life in such a way that I had no option but to conclude that God is probably real and that Christianity is probably true. It caused a reader to contact me and ask: But how often does God intervene in our lives? Is prayer about changing the course of events, or more about our adapting to our circumstances more constructively? These are good questions, and I thought worth exploring in a post. You have probably heard of the “butterfly effect” (a theory beloved by...
Read MorePraying the journey…
My Sabbatical leave is almost over, and what an unusual season it has been. I spent part of it at Carson Newman University in Tennessee, and after seven wonderful weeks close to the Smoky Mountains, Rosemary and I had to dash back to Australia to avoid being locked out, potentially for many months. It did make for an abrupt end, though the major task for my Sabbatical, remained. That was to make significant progress on a book on the formation of spiritual leaders, which is my current writing project. I am now at the two thirds through stage, so am pleased about that. Naturally because I am...
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