Another great episode on one of my favorite podcasts featuring @michelleknight.bsky.social

it rolls downhill toward the low places of humility and trust. Advent is not just about waiting, but about waiting in the right place. The right place to wait for the grace of God is the lowly ash heap of your barrenness and brokenness. This is where the grace of God will appear.

In our contemporary context we need a Christianity formed by the Magnificat. In the American superpower we are typically inclined toward ideologies of success and anthems of strength. But the grace of God does not run uphill toward the pinnacles of success and strength, …

Satan: tempter, accuser, deceiver. Our flesh: disordered desires, worries, wealth obsession. The world: opposing paradigms, cultural influence, moral relativism. Keener notes we face Satan communally, not alone. And we must stay vigilant against our own nature and worldly pressures.

“May God in His mercy lead us through these times; but above all, may He lead us to Himself.”

—Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
penned from prison

The people rejected, despised, overlooked by this world are especially dear to Christ. He loves and notices the failures, the outcasts, the forgotten. That is who He is. "A bruised reed He will not break." Thankful.

“In the monastic tradition the vow of stability is central to a rule of life. The person promises to remain in that particular monastic community for life and to be shaped by the rhythms of that particular community.” - Ruth Haley Barton (Pg. 135)

“If we take the Christian faith seriously, we will probably end up traveling somewhere or loving someone or trying something we would never have imagined at an earlier stage in our lives. It is simply what a life of discipleship requires.” - Jerry Sittser (p.257)