More Grace, Less Judgment

This sign hangs on the wall of a small storefront office and welcome center where anyone can walk right in and have a free cup of coffee or sit for a while, relax and talk.

It has a certain kind of ring to it. I would welcome that in my day. What if everyone I met followed that principle? I wouldn't mind putting my feet on the floor each morning.

More Grace, Less Judgment

Easy to remember and a pretty clever way to live. Judgment takes up quite a bit of mental energy. And in the end, what does it really do for us? But grace - giving even if it is not deserved - suggests forgiveness and hints at a desire for fellowship. Both have a way of coming back, but only one can put a spring in your step.

The storefront is the Open Hands Mercy Station Matthew - meeting the needs of folks through the week.

Faith ~ the Alive Band

Today my band met a goal we have been waiting on for almost four years. 

We have practiced in homes, hallways, parking lots, fellowship halls and up two flights of stairs in what we like to call the “upper room” which is simply a scarcely used classroom at a far corner of a church that is also used as a storage room.

We have stuck together because we love to play music, and because we have kept faith that there was a purpose for what we had to offer beyond ourselves as individuals and our little group. Even when it looked like there would be no one to hear our songs, we stayed together and soon found a place to play and a group to embrace and encourage us. They were not from our home, but soon became our home – Open Hands. 

And now over a year later and four from the start of our journey as a band our home congregation has welcomed us.  In this current year we have played on average 360 songs for Open Hands and only 25 for them.  But today was a new beginning, and we now have the assurance of sharing our music with them on a regular basis.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Heb 11:1

Love ~ Hold Us Together

Today I attended two funerals. Not common, but what made it even more unusual is that they were cousins; what made it even more unusual is that they died on the same day; what made it even more unusual is that they did not die in an accident together. One died from cancer after deciding very peacefully not to receive any treatment. The younger choked on a piece of steak he had warmed up to eat after returning home from business. So though each funeral gathered a different collection of friends and colleagues and styles of ceremony, they both brought together many of the same family members who shared the same memories of life with these men.



Obviously "love" is probably the most recurring theme for songs and literature, but I have always enjoyed the way this song expresses it. It doesn't hit you over the head or waste time emoting. It doesn't even really talk about romantic relationships. Simply put, it states that love won't give you stuff you want; love won't solve all your problems; love is not institutional. It is caring for each other as human beings, taking up the slack when others are having a tough go of it. And the very fact that there are others out there willing to do that makes it possible for us as the song says to weather the storm.

love is patient
love is kind
love is not envious
or boastful 
or arrogant
or rude
it does not insist on its own way
it is not irritable
or resentful
it does not rejoice in wrongdoing
but rejoices in truth
it bears all things
believes all things
hopes all things
endures all things
love never ends
1 Cor 13:4-8

Blogs By the Numbers

Here are a few stats on blogs. Though the source I'm using is about 3 years old, the information is interesting:

How many bloggers update daily? --- One in Five

How many bloggers write more than one blog? - - - More than Half

What is the typical age of bloggers? - - - 60% are between 18 and 44

Are more bloggers male or female? --- 70% are male

What percentage are from the US? - - - 49%

Internationally, what is the number of blogs listed? - - - 133,000,000

What percentage of people who use the Internet read blogs? - - - 77%

Beauty ~ Caught in the Rain

Some years ago while visiting DC we bought an ornament made partially with copper from the old roof of the Library of Congress that contains the inscription: Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty. The quotation is actually from one of Keats’ poems though it wouldn't surprise me if the sentiment had an even earlier history.   So in writing the first post reflecting the words in this blog’s banner description, I figured as good a statement of beauty as any would be that it is truth.

This could prevent us from having arguments over the view that what is beautiful to some may not be beautiful to others – the “eye of the beholder” - or having to wade through philosophical or artistic discussions. I would simply offer that although our experiences of truth may be different, there is no altering the fact that something is true or it isn’t; something is honest, or it isn’t.  

Hopefully through the course of this blog, there will be examples of moments when the beauty of finding something true stands out in a world that likes to hide behind appearances.  The song linked above, “Caught in the Rain” by Jay Clifford is a good example.  There is no denying every one of us gets “caught in the rain” of life over and over again. We find ourselves unprepared and surprised.  Yet there is something beautiful in the realization, reflected in the musical bridge of this song, that there is more to life than rain.

Hallowed Place

It is fitting to begin entries in this blog with a poem that has been with me for quite some time ~ written beside the stream at my home. I have tried to capture the pulsing water beneath the roots in different seasons, but as we know, the camera can never completely capture what the eye sees. The poem is from WALK INTO A MOMENT.

Hallowed Place

Step into the stream’s clear pool

Search along gray rock

That will not weather

Beyond sandbanks as they curve

Toward the sycamore, leaning

From spreads of fern

The water pulses

But is not rushing, is not deep

Compressed beneath the lowest root

Laid bare and reaching

Kneel to meet it bubbling forth

Washing over, flowing down

Rest upon the stretch of tree

Through shadowed branches

Daylight broadens vibrantly converging

How is one to be in your presence?

Who fills gaps in every part of me

Who does not need me to tell what has passed

For you were there

So I could, if I would

Turn and know

You are here for me

J. Jackson