There was once a woman in great distress, and to her surprise she experienced a vision while praying in which she was visited by the angel Gabriel. “Greetings, daughter of Eve,” the heavenly messenger said. “Word of your turmoil has reached my ears.” “Oh Gabriel!” the grieving woman exclaimed, “I am indeed burdened by both […]
Category: Suffering
Our Daily Dread: Dominion Be Damned
Continuing my series of “disruptive devotionals” (which I would love to turn into a book), consider this passage — after referring to the Old Testament’s so-called “dominion mandate,” the writer says: Now in putting everything in subjection to man, God left nothing outside his control. But at present, we do not yet see everything in subjection […]
I Am an Agnostic
(And so are you.) Here’s what I mean: Agnosticism refers to what we can claim to “know” (gnosis being the Greek word for “knowledge”). An agnostic, then, is simply someone who doesn’t know something about a particular subject. The Latin equivalent of agnosticism is “ignorance” — if someone asks you whether you agree with the […]
“From the Wound a Lovely Flower Grew”
The other night while driving, this lyric sort of knocked me off balance a bit: He looked beneath his shirt today, There was a wound in his flesh so deep and wide; From the wound a lovely flower grew From somewhere deep inside. It comes from an album I have always loved — Sting’s Nothing […]