• Communion,  Featured,  Imaginative Prayer,  Presence

    You Are What You Eat: Communion Reimagined

    While in Jerusalem some years ago, we visited the Upper Room.  It had long since been turned into a small chapel, and as we sat on the wooden pews, a tour guide took us through the story of Jesus’ communion with the disciples.  Afterwards, one of the students I was with asked about the authenticity of this site as the actual location of the Upper Room.  The tour guide smiled and then told us about the six other Upper Rooms in the vicinity.  Apparently, an ambitious tourist could go around and partake of the sacrament in seven Upper Rooms in an afternoon. Honestly, if I had the time, I might…

  • self-awareness
    denial,  Self-awareness,  success

    Self-Awareness vs Narcissism: How to Tell the Difference

    Self-awareness is to sensitivity as narcissism is to self-absorption. Many make the mistake of glossing over the term self-awareness as one of those jargon words like facilitate, monetize, or self-actualization.  Christians, in particular, are often suspicious of any word that begins with self. We forget that the injunction to love others as we love ourselves presupposes necessary self-love.  But self-awareness is the polar opposite of narcissism. Narcissism projects onto the world an image, while the true self, like the portrait hidden in Dorian Grey’s attic, grows less recognizable with time.  The cry of the narcissist is “I have been cheated!”  Narcissists seek to escape themselves. Those with even a modicum…

  • laughter,  relationship

    Learn to Laugh with Jesus: Experience Joy with Him

    Sometimes I laugh at the Bible and its crazy stories. Learning to read and digest the Bible on one’s own is sometimes one of the most difficult tasks a Christian takes on. The Bible is filled with extreme stories and occasionally we read a story that makes little or no sense to us.  I was reading Joshua and came upon such a story.  Before Joshua would allow the Israelites to go into the Promised Land and begin the process of claiming it for their own, he required each of the men to circumcise themselves. I really couldn’t help but laugh at this and shudder at the same time. They had…