There are real challenges to sustaining a vibrant Christian faith over the course of a lifetime. I fully understand the need to rethink and to adjust course in our faith journey. I’ve had my own experience with this. (1/6)
In midlife I discovered that the Christianity I knew was too weak and too thin, too compromised with consumerism and too accommodating to Americanism. To sustain a vibrant Christian faith I had to find a Christianity worthy of the Christ whose name it bears. (2/6)
The good news is that such a Christianity exists. It’s always existed — though rarely, if ever, is it the dominant expression of Christianity. Sometimes we have to go on a theological journey to find a faith that can endure for a lifetime. (3/6)
I describe my experience with this as my water to wine journey. In my forties I made the faith-saving discovery that Jesus can turn a weak, watered-down Christianity into a rich, robust, intoxicating Christianity. I speak from experience. (4/6)
I know what it is to let go of an anti-intellectual theology, a doom-oriented eschatology, a ticket-to-heaven soteriology, a hyper-individualized ecclesiology and discover that something far, far better had been there all along. (5/6)
Ever since my initial encounter with Christ as a teenager, I instinctively knew that Jesus was the beauty that saves the world. What I faced in midlife wasn’t a deficiency in Jesus, but a falseness that marred the beauty of Christ. (6/6)
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The Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica respond to Harrison Butker.
(These are the Sisters and dear friends who trained Peri in spiritual direction. Rock on, Sisters!):
"As a founding institution and sponsor of Benedictine College, the sisters of Mount St. Scholastica
find it necessary to respond to the controversial remarks of Harrison Butker as commencement speaker.
The sisters of Mount St. Scholastica do not believe that Harrison Butker’s comments in his 2024 Benedictine College commencement address represent the Catholic, Benedictine,
liberal arts college that our founders envisioned and in which we have been so invested. of promoting unity in our church, our nation, and the world, his comments seem to have fostered division.
The death of the innocent children of Bethlehem is what we today call in Orwellian language “collateral damage.” I realize that most American Christians don’t want to sully their sentimental version of Christmas with Matthew’s disturbing account...
of King Herod’s collateral damage—it too easily reminds us of drone strikes gone awry that end up hitting wedding parties instead of terrorist cells. When contemporary superpowers adopt the tactics of ancient tyrant kings, we need to be honest about the fact that innocent people,
including children, will be killed. The dark side of Christmas forces us to ask uncomfortable questions about babies killed by covert operations in the name of “security.” We tell ourselves that our security forces are very different from those of King Herod,
I’ve been to Bethlehem more than twenty times. I have Palestinian Christian friends who live there. I love spending time in the ancient Church of the Nativity that venerates the traditional birthplace of Christ. 1/6
On my writing desk I have a beautiful cross icon that I obtained at one of Bethlehem’s olive wood stores. I’ve found peace and beauty in Bethlehem. But I’ve also seen separation walls, rubber bullets, and teargas canisters there. 2/6
Situated on the fault line of one of the world’s most intractable conflicts, Bethlehem lies at the intersection of iconic beauty and painful reality. The Christmas carol about Bethlehem says it just right—“the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.” 3/6
🧵The Church Painter scene is one of my favorite's in A Hidden Life.
Terrence Malick clearly got his inspiration for the lines in this scene from Kierkegaard.
(Malick is a Rhodes Scholar with a degree in philosophy from Harvard—he knows his Kierkegaard.)
Søren Kierkegaard:
"It is well known that Christ consistently used the expression 'follower.' For this reason, he could never be satisfied with adherents who accept his teaching—especially with those who in their lives ignored it or let things take their usual course.
His whole life on earth, from beginning to end, was destined solely to have followers and to make admirers impossible. What then is the difference between an admirer and a follower? A follower is or strives to be what he admires.
"Without a life of imitation, of following Christ, it is impossible to gain mastery over doubts. We cannot stop doubt with reasons. Those who try have not learned that it is wasted effort. The Savior of the world did not come to bring a doctrine; he never lectured.
He did not try by way of reasons to prevail upon anyone to accept his teaching. If someone wanted to be his follower, he said to that person something like this, 'Venture a decisive act; then you can begin, then you will know.'
This is the only proof possible for the truth of what he represents: 'If anyone will act according to what I say, he will experience whether I am speaking on my own.' Yes, doubt will come, even to the one who follows Christ.