Tag: big picture

Faith of the Everyday

Posted on by Michael Rose
Once upon a time, there were two carpenters; framers to be precise. Each day they would arrive at the building site to pound nails, erect walls. The first, a glum man, was asked what he was doing. “I hammer nails,” he replied, looking sour. “Every day, hammer nails and more nails. Day in, day out,…
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“God gives but doesn’t share”

Posted on by Michael Rose
This little saying was in my inbox the other morning.  It is a snippet from Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder,  the story about a person named Paul Farmer and his work in Haiti, Peru, Cuba and Russia. Farmer is a physician and medical anthropologist spending his career working to improve healthcare for some of the poorest…
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What we think they see

Posted on by Michael Rose
A strange adventure at Costco last Wednesday. As I was pushing my cart, doing my shopping and people watching I saw a lady walk towards me with what looked like a nasty bruise right in the middle of her forehead. I thought to myself ‘I wonder what she walked into?’ A few minutes later I saw…
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Trash Talk with Scripture

Posted on by Michael Rose
In my quiet time this morning I was reading a piece of scripture for the New Testament. I found myself lingering around Jesus’ temptation in the desert in Matthew 4. 5Then the Slanderer carries him off into the Holy City, and stood him upon the pinnacle of the Temple, 6And says to him, “If you…
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I’m Burnt Out on Outrage

Posted on by Michael Rose
I was speaking with a friend today who was expressing indignation at a particularly twisted bit of theology.  It was one of those things one can only shake one’s head, with mouth agape in wonderment, at such profound theological abuse. I found that in reading it, I had no energy to be outraged.  Yes, it…
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Loving our Lepers

Posted on by Michael Rose
There is an old story about St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226), the founder of the Catholic order known as the Franciscans. The story goes that Francis was revolted by people with leprosy. As you may be aware, leprosy is a horrible and disfiguring disease.  While leprosy is curable today, people did suffer terribly and from…
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Everyday Spirituality

Posted on by Michael Rose
Once upon a time, there were two carpenters; framers to be precise.  Each day they would arrive at the building site to pound nails and erect walls.   The first, a glum man, was asked what he was doing.  “I hammer nails,” he replied, looking sour.  “Every day, hammer nails and more nails.  Day in,…
Read more