TW: suicide From a conversation with a close friend. Worth talking about and talking about well. May it be for the building of Christ's kingdom in us all. https://nwcarpenter.wordpress.com/2021/02/05/an-open-letter-considering-suicide-and-eternity/ https://www.instagram.com/p/CK7i41YHrfH/?igshid=hq9n8pj1eu1h

Divorce A word I never thought would be a part of my life. But I guess everyone says that. I even remember growing up not hearing it but rather “the D-word” because of how taboo it was. But they say (just like in Harry Potter) you give a word power when you’re afraid of it. So let’s just say it: I’m getting divorced. It’s no secret Mariah and I have had a most difficult journey the past few years. We have both been well-loved and well cared for during it all. Yet through great pain and difficulty, there are some things that just break after so much has happened. I am immensely grateful though how grace-filled this decision has been for both of us. Still devastating but grace-filled. We have collaborated on plans moving forward and have nothing but the utmost concern for each other. I would not be the exceptional pastor and human being I am without Mariah’s love. To that end, I will not say our marriage was a failure. We are both better, more loving, more alive people because of our relationship, and I say thanks be to God for that. So, friends, you may grieve with us at this loss, but also hope with us that the God who brings life out of death is at work in us even now. This is a sunset that will surely be followed by a dark night, but as the great Samwise Gamgee proclaims, “In the end it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine all the clearer”. Light wins over darkness, and there is hope even in this. Thanks be to God.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CDKGcY7ptBa/?igshid=gazl36b30lis

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On Creativity

My wife is very creative both in artsy-craftsy ways and in organizational ways. And since those are more traditional or common ways of understanding "creative" I never really considered myself a creative person. However, in a recent conversation with a friend they pointed out to me that I am creative with words and concepts. They said I am able to read dense heavy books and regurgitate them to lay people in terms and pictures they can understand. Still creative, just not "normal" creative. So I think the secret is to recognize what you are good at, what you love, and discover outlets for those skills/talents that allow for both joy and wonder. Don't ever worry about production, because then it becomes a chore or (worse) obligation.

When you live with someone who is seriously mentally ill, you cannot live without hope, but you certainly need to learn to live without expectations.

Stanley Hauerwas

“Our God is not the sort of God who sits on high, aloof from the struggle and pain of this life. Our God gets mixed up in the mess of this life here on earth, even to the point of going with us criminals to the cross. If we want to be with God, in paradise or anywhere else, then we can expect to be with him at the cross. With this God, it gets very, very dark, and then we open our eyes and see that God is there, beside us. With this God, things go from bad to worse, from worse to awful, and then there, next to us, is God hanging in there with us, on a cross.”

— William H. Willimon; Thank God It’s Friday: Encountering the Seven Last Words from the Cross

To all my followers in, connected to, or affected by the United Methodist Conference this week:

No matter your position on what is debated, I cannot imagine the frustration, anxiety, and pain that has gone into this recent event. Years of build up and within just a few short days, lives are totally changed.

I am so sorry for the hurt you must be feeling.

I am so sorry for the division you must be facing.

I am so sorry it all had to come to this.

I can offer you the best thing I have: my support and care for each of you, and my prayers for peace to all in this difficult time.

So brothers and sisters, LGBTQ+ and otherwise: may the Peace of Christ be with you all, now and forever more.

A Prayer for those Emotionally Exhausted

(from Timothy Crutcher)

Ever-Sufficient and Almighty God,

I come to you at the end of my emotional rope. The storms of life have left me battered and bruised, and I don’t even know how to feel anymore. Sometimes I am swamped by anger and sadness and worry and hurt. Sometimes I’m just numb, all the color drained from my world.

Remind me, Dear Lord, that the way I feel does not represent the way things are, that my feelings—while real—are not true. Grant to me the trust and patience I need to wait out this season of struggle and emptiness. Restore to me the joy of my salvation, and renew a rightly contented spirit within me. May even my weary waiting testify to the grace of Your unfailing Presence and Love.

Amen

So in the 1930s Nazis sent a letter to J.R.R Tolkien asking him to verify his Aryan ancestry and confirm he wasn’t Jewish so that they would feel comfortable publishing a German translation of the Hobbit. He responded with the classiest, most educated “fuck you” of all time.

25 July 1938 20 Northmoor Road, Oxford 

Dear Sirs,

Thank you for your letter. I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by arisch. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware none of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people. My great-great-grandfather came to England in the eighteenth century from Germany: the main part of my descent is therefore purely English, and I am an English subject — which should be sufficient. I have been accustomed, nonetheless, to regard my German name with pride, and continued to do so throughout the period of the late regrettable war, in which I served in the English army. I cannot, however, forbear to comment that if impertinent and irrelevant inquiries of this sort are to become the rule in matters of literature, then the time is not far distant when a German name will no longer be a source of pride.

Your enquiry is doubtless made in order to comply with the laws of your own country, but that this should be held to apply to the subjects of another state would be improper, even if it had (as it has not) any bearing whatsoever on the merits of my work or its sustainability for publication, of which you appear to have satisfied yourselves without reference to my Abstammung.

I trust you will find this reply satisfactory, and 

remain yours faithfully,

J. R. R. Tolkien

- Brother Lawrence (probably)

We are closest to God when we are peeling potatoes.

Well, points for consistency Calvinists. #SavingSoulsAndTime https://www.instagram.com/p/BpvazKgACai/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=njeezv808q3a

Presently pursuing

reblog if you aspire to be clergy

pastors and priests, ministers, clergy…basically anyone who wants to be ordained. 

and, if you like, please share which denomination

Honest Christian asks

Thorn: What sin(s) do you struggle with?

Freedom: what sin(s) have you overcome?

Revelation: what unexplained thing has God done in your life?

Genesis: What does new birth mean to you?

Water: Have you been baptized?

Theology: Who are your favorite writers/pastors?

Wisdom: Have you ever said something wrong and learned from it?

Cover: Have you read the whole bible?

Ocean: Where are you being called to abandon comfort zones?

Warfare: How do you deal with spiritual attacks(Emotional)?

Gift: What are your spiritual gifts or gift?

Psalm: Post some of your favorite music/bands!

Messiah: What does the work of Christ mean to you?

Dust: Are you afraid of dying?

Valley: What are your fears?

Rest: What areas do you need to trust God with more?

Correction: What is an area of life you need work on?

Disciple: What does it mean to follow Christ?

Idol: What are some things in life you need to let go of?

Creation: What talents can you use to glorify God?

Vocation: Do you know what God has called you to do?

Darkness: How do your shortcomings make you feel?

Division: Have you lost family or friends to follow Christ?

Another one in the bag!