Colossians 3

Have you ever heard of an egregore?

We may feel compassion in our guts, but we learn it by practicing empathic solidarity.

Why am I so skeptical about sitting and learning at the feet of others?

He faces it.

How would the women of Colossae have responded to chapter 3? 

How would the women of Colossae have responded to chapter 3? 

Baptism is about dying with Christ. Why don't more churches talk about this?

Baptism is about dying with Christ. Why don't more churches talk about this?

I’ve been trying to follow Thomas Keating’s advice: learn to be silent with God.

I’ve been trying to follow Thomas Keating’s advice: learn to be silent with God.

Fun fact: when Paul tells his readers in Colossae to "put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry)," it's an example of a common ancient rhetorical device called a "vice list." (This is not actually fun, but bear with me.)

Paul says the hidden life is a moral one, putting off vices like a set of dirty old clothes.

On a shelf in our church library you can find a “Reading Guide” made by a fourth grader. It lists the types of books appropriate for different age groups and advises: “Remember--Kids (8-12) when you start the Bible, go at your own pace. It's a long book!”

This Colossians reading is one of those distilled, cryptic passages that draws us into so much more than we can imagine. Such verses expand our capacity to wonder and give praise. They invite us into God’s mystery.

If Christian liturgy works on the imagination, so do disordered secular liturgies. Social media—despite its good uses—might be one example.

If Christian liturgy works on the imagination, so do disordered secular liturgies. Social media—despite its good uses—might be one example.

What makes kindness a distinctive mark of the new creation?