In Chapter 1 of Who is This Man? Pastor John Ortberg describes Jesus’ impact on the ancient world. While the people of Jesus’ time scorned humility, humility became enshrined on a cross and eventually championed as a virtue. Enemies, once seen as worthy of vengeance, now were worthy of love. Forgiveness, once perceived as an […]
“I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice speaking to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goad.’ “- Acts 26: 13-14 As John […]
In Chapter 1 (“The Man Who Won’t Go Away”) of Who is This Man?, author and Presbyterian minister John Ortberg contrasts Jesus’ influence in His own time with His modern impact on the world. Pastor Ortberg notes that the day following Jesus’ death, it appeared to His followers that whatever small mark Jesus had left […]
The Attentive Life (InterVarsity Press, 2008) The Attentive Life is Leighton Ford’s interpretation of the “divine hours”, traditionally practiced by religious orders but originally designed by St. Benedict (The Benedictine Rule) as a guide for laypeople. Kairos, the word the Bible uses most often to speak of those opportunities that become turning points, is the […]
“What good is it for a man to gain the whole world and yet lose or forfeit his very self?” -Luke ( 25 (NIV) In the fall of 1965 I completed the first grading period of my freshman year at Luther High School South in Chicago. Report cards (actually “books” that spanned all 4 years) […]
In the Epilogue (“The Journey Home”) of The Attentive Life, author Leighton Ford notes that time is redeemed when our memory of the past and desire for the future are united by love in the present. Our attempts to clutch what passes as well as trying to achieve what is beyond our grasp are in […]
As Leighton Ford concludes Chapter 9 of The Attentive Life, he relates a well-know story told by the authors of Sleeping with Bread: Holding What Gives You Life. During World War II thousands of orphaned children were placed in refugee camps, where they were safe from the bombs raining down on Europe. Although they were […]
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those how love him- but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.”- 1 Corinthians 2: 9-10 Leighton Ford asks what we should especially pay attention to at Compline in Chapter 9 of The Attentive Life. In […]
“Let it come, as it will, and don’t be afraid. God does not leave us comfortless, so let evening come.”- Jane Kenyon “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge.”- Psalm 91: 4 In Chapter 9 (“Grandfather Time: When Evening Comes”), the concluding chapter of The Attentive Life, Leighton […]
As Leighton Ford concludes Chapter 8 of The Attentive Life, he notes that Thomas Keating (The Human Condition) maintains that we spend the first half of our lives finding our role- what our culture conditions us to do– and the second half of our lives finding our true selves, what God has called us to […]
Leighton Ford rhetorically asks in Chapter 8 of The Attentive Life if we wake up in the world with a “holy longing” for the Kingdom of God that is “already” and “not yet”. Ronald Rollheiser writes of this “holy longing” in his book The Holy Longing: The Search for a Christian Spirituality: “Sensing that we are […]
In Chapter 8 (Lighting the Lamps: The House with Golden Windows”) of The Attentive Life, Leighton Ford covers the hour of Vespers. The counterpart to Lauds, Vespers “celebrates the lighting of lamps as the evening descends.” David Steindl-Rast offers additional insights on the meaning and application of Vespers: “Vespers is the hour that invites peace […]