by Tim -

A Guest Post on Family Christmas Traditions

I have a guest post going up this morning at Sight Regained, the blogging home of Louis Tullo. Louis is quickly becoming a friend, although we’ve never met and only know each other through the magic of the interweb.

Louis is hosting a series of guest posts on Christmas traditions and graciously asked me to write one. It’s a good series, and you can check out my post here.

by Tim -

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

So, I changed the look of the site again. I also overhauled the FBC logo, which can be found at the bottom of the page. What do you think of the changes?

And I also created a FBC Facebook fan page, so if you’re on “the Facebook,” clickity-click here and like the new page (por favor)!

I have been rethinking the purpose of this blog, and I want it to become something like a community in which faith conversations can take place. That, of course, does not depend solely on me. It depends on you.

What kind of things do you want to talk about? When it comes to the realm of Christianity, what kind of topics are you most interested in? Let me know in the comments (por favor).

by Tim -

What We Should Be Talking About

Each generation has to wrestle afresh with the question of Jesus… we should discover more and more of who Jesus was and is, precisely in order to be equipped to engage with the world that he came to save. And this is a task for the whole church.

-N.T. Wright (The Challenge of Jesus, p. 31)

by Tim -

A Prayer for Justice

Help me perfect my ways of loving and caring.
Inspire me to make myself whole,
so that I may honor Your name and
create a world of justice and peace.

–Martin Buber

by Tim -

A Prayer for Holy Living

HOLY ONE,
give me a quiet heart,
and help me to hear the still,
small voice that speaks within me.
It calls me to come close to You
and grow in Your likeness.
It teaches me to do my work faithfully,
Even when no one’s eye is upon me.
It counsels me to judge others kindly
and to love them freely,
for it persuades me to see divinity
in everyone I meet.
Help me, O God,
to come to the end of each day
feeling that I used its gifts wisely
and faced its trials bravely.

–a Jewish prayer, from the Mishkan t’filah

by Tim -

Prayer of Necessity

God be in my head, and in my understanding;
God be in mine eyes, and in my looking;
God be in my mouth, and in my speaking;
God be in my heart, and in my thinking;
God be at mine end, and at my departing.

– From the Sarum Primer, 1558

by Tim -

Pure Speculation

When God questioned Adam and Eve after they ate the forbidden fruit, what do you think might have happened if instead of pointing the finger, they had ‘fessed up and repented? Could things have turned out differently?

Alas, we’ll never know. Just some pure speculation.

by Tim -

Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

-St. Francis of Assisi

by Tim -

The Apostolic Gospel Tradition

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received:
that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,
he was buried,
he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
and he appeared to Peter, then to the twelve.

1 Corinthians 15:3-5