PILGRIM NOTES

My vote. The candidates I support. The policies I advocate. The causes to which I give my time and money. Even the way I regard people whose politics I find objectionable. All of it must be subject to the same question I ask about the rest of my life: Is this what God wants of me? And perhaps there is another question beneath that one: What is my influence actually serving? Is it serving the purposes of God as I understand them—love of neighbor, truth, justice, mercy, human d

Somewhere along the way I learned to call certain experiences in my own life “kairos moments.” Have you ever had what you might call a mountaintop experience—a moment when your ordinary awareness of time seemed to fade and something profoundly touched you? In those moments, the distance between Heaven and Earth can seem razor thin. But perhaps I've even been thinking about that backward. Maybe we simply become more aware of how close Heaven is.

From the beginning, God risks rejection. Throughout Scripture he continues taking that risk. Israel rejects him. Prophets are ignored. Jesus is rejected and crucified. The Holy Spirit is resisted. Nowhere is God's willingness to risk rejection seen more clearly than at the cross. Rather than overwhelming humanity with irresistible power, Christ entered our world in vulnerability. He healed, taught, forgave, and loved—even knowing many would reject him.