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Pastor Joe Burnham and a Reconstructed Abundant Life

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Transformative Soul Care: From Discipline to Devotion

September 8, 2020 by Joe Leave a Comment

How do we engage in soul care that actually works? How do we take what is in our heart, mind, personality, and history and form it in a way that fosters wholeness and vitality?

While recently interviewing my dear friend, Lauren White, the topic of spiritual disciplines came up. My visceral response to those two words put together surprised me. Clearing space in my schedule, I sat with my response for a while before I began to write.

I often frame faith as a systemic struggle between spirits of power versus love. In this post, I focus on it at an individual level as I explore the art of soul care.

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Filed Under: thoughts

Eyes Opened

July 8, 2020 by Joe Leave a Comment

“Then how were your eyes opened?”

Much like, “Who sinned?” the question binds itself to one way of seeing the world. The man is transformed, but his transformation holds little sway in the crowd. Given that they soon bring the man to the religious leaders of the day, it is clear that they recognize the spiritual importance of the event. They are not seeking to understand the mechanics of the man’s healing. Still, something is missing from their response.

The man’s eyes opened, but not people’s remained closed.

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Filed Under: thoughts

Why I Stopped Pursuing Productivity

June 3, 2020 by Joe Leave a Comment

Productivity: A measure of the efficiency of a person, machine, factory, system, etc., in converting inputs into useful outputs.

Oxford Dictionary

It all sounds rather mechanical, right. Something that puts us in the category of human doings rather than human beings. It leads to days measured by to-do lists and calendars. Or one measured entirely by production. Our personal versions of the DOW and GDP. But just as I would argue that those are abhorrent measurements for the well-being of a nation, so our individual measures are poison to the soul.

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Filed Under: thoughts

Context is King

March 29, 2020 by Joe Leave a Comment

If I could pass on one word of advice to everyone who picks up the Bible, it would be, “Remember, context is king.” Another way of saying it would be, “Don’t ignore the forest for the sake of one tree … or, quite possibly, a single leaf.”

Far too often we take a single story or verse from the Bible, a mere leaf in the midst of a forest, and read it without seeing the bigger picture. (Photo by John Price on Unsplash)
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Filed Under: thoughts

Give Unto Caesar

February 12, 2020 by Joe Leave a Comment

“Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s.” I’m not sure how many times I’ve seen those words pop up on Facebook over the past few years. Typically it comes as a dismissive defense against any serious attempt to wrestle with the entanglement of faith and politics. It compartmentalizes the two, putting politics in one box and faith in another.

But is that was Jesus is saying? Is Jesus suggesting that we have distinct spiritual, social, political, and work lives? Or have we taken a couple verses from a much larger story and incorrectly applied it to a single context?

Will you give unto Caesar or give unto God?
Photo by Jordan Rowland on Unsplash
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Filed Under: thoughts

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