This series of Bible studies seeks to retell the stories of women who were divinely called and empowered to do great things. Many of them rose to the occasion, and a few very famously did not. Often, the tragedies and triumphs in their lives are missed, and their stories are told from perspectives other than with the honor and dignity they deserve.
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“Light on Darkness” by Cosima Clara Gillhammer
“Ritual and iconography create context for telling a new story—a departure from the old, but the bridge from old to new is provided in the reshaping of the ritual or icon."
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“The Greatest Story Never Told,” by Leonard Sweet
All of us who have the Spirit of Christ share in the passion the Lord has for earth, for people, for each other. We share in spiritual knowledge and understanding, we share in, as Sweet puts it, the upward works of piety that include the sacraments, prayer, and scripture, and we share in the outward works of piety, of grace, mercy, and charity.
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“The God of Story,” by Daniel Schwabauer (Part 2)
If God is for real, and God's word still speaks, then we can be confident God's power will also continue to be at work. It is the Holy Spirit Who does the convicting, the enlivening, the softening, the quickening, the restoring, and the raising up. None of that is mine.
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“The God of Story,” by Daniel Schwabauer (Part 1)
What is the real reason for a good story? To be a vault that safeguards truth in such a way each new hearer discovers the truth for themselves (pp 29, 50, 59).
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“Jesus Imagination,” by Leonard Sweet (Part 2)
At a certain point in the second half, it felt as though I were reading an autobiography in the form of a devotional diary. It felt like sitting with Len Sweet early in the morning (or maybe late at night), when time slows down and we are in that mystical place between heaven and earth where inspiration and revelation fill us to overflowing.
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“Jesus Imagination,” by Leonard Sweet (Part 1)
What I have been calling quantum thinking, moving from the binary "not this but that" to the quantum "yes this and also that" Sweet entitles "sacred tensions," in Chapter 14, and Kierkegaard calls paradox the thinker's passion, and that is the perfect way to begin.
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“Personal Knowledge,” by Michael Polanyi (Part 2)
Intuitive and creative thought can only thrive in a free society. Only human beings were able to develop signs and symbols that could record and convey ideas, which made it possible for our intelligence to grow. We are still growing. It takes all of us to know and share the truth, and to continue to find meaning.
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“Personal Knowledge,” by Michael Polanyi (Part 1)
Polanyi gives his thesis statement a number of times, but I thought this one was fairly straightforward and succinct: “… The whole process of discovery and confirmation ultimately relies on our own accrediting of our own vision of reality” (p 130). This is true of faith and belief as well.
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“Art and Faith,” by Makoto Fujimura
We would relish God's invitation to create without the inhibition of embarrassment or inability, or cringing in fear at the inevitable smack-down. We would throw ourselves heart, mind, soul, and strength, and with great joy, into the project.
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“Primal Intelligence,” by Angus Fletcher (Part 2)
Fletcher’s challenge to make new plans when the environment changes, and to junk our must successful plans (that was then, this is now) is bracing counsel that sits well, as is his exhortation to be bold. A mentor of mine once urged me to “fail fast and fall hard,” or something like that. “Cut away the tried-and-true and double down on the eccentric, until you make a breakthrough”
