Boldly, Enter

Posted on January 9, 2014 by Tom Bolton

1 Cor 5: 9-11

        Boldly, Enter

Fully and boldly, Christ entered life,
no recluse, no hermit.
Amidst enemies and critics, He lived;
deserted, He stayed in the world.
On the cross, He stayed with us.
On the roads, He lived with us.
And some days, I would camp on my couch, 384004_10150380754717438_620612437_8264244_1467817038_n
cover up, hidden beneath a favored blanket.
But I would be, and am, placed in life,
and there I would work, learn, witness and care.
In my church, I am drawn out,
and challenged to live,
in the midst of hungry and weak and scared.
But how do my thoughts wander so quickly?
Why do I so easily stray from God’s Word?
Did I forget to eat and sleep last night?
In my hour of need, did I forget to breathe?
Why do I so quickly forget the Word?
How have I left my daily way?
I will remember.
Today I boldly enter the world.
I have been in the Word,
and I carry it with me.
Each morning He wakens me.
I will boldly enter the world.
Keep me pure and real in the world.

(c) Tom Bolton, 7 January 2014, Milwaukee deep freeze

Posted in Poetry, Reflecting on Scripture | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

An opportunity to have input to a new book

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Tom Bolton

An opportunity to have input to a new book

In his new blog introducing his book on theology, Teddy Ray writes, “In 2013, I began writing a book on theology. For several years, I looked for a particular resource I could give my congregation––a systematic theology for ordinary people––something that would present basic Christian beliefs in a systematic, accessible, and narrative fashion. I was never able to find anything I was satisfied with. This work is the result.

I’m sharing the rough draft of my introduction here. I plan to share the first chapter in a few weeks. The post will only be up until Friday, noon EST. After that, I’ll take it down so I can take your suggestions and begin revising.
For my regular readers: I rarely ask anything of you, but I’m going to ask if you’ll consider doing two things for me today:
  1. After you read, would you please use the form at the bottom of this post to give me feedback?
  2. Would you please share this with others? I would love to get as much feedback as I can before I take the post down.”

I thought I’d share a link to it here tonight.  The link is at the top.

Posted in Disciplines, Leadership | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Time for a checkup

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Tom Bolton

Time for a checkup

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.  All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.”  Matthew 22:37-40

Each year many of us will go through a physical check-up, perhaps do a financial check up at year’s end or at tax time, and perhaps do a performance review at our workplace.   But how often do we take time to review our spiritual life?

It seems like a good time.

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2013 in review

Posted on December 31, 2013 by Tom Bolton

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,000 times in 2013. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 3 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

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Devotions to Our God in the Manger: Fulfilled

Posted on December 24, 2013 by Tom Bolton

A D V E N T   2 0 1 3:    D E V O T I O N S   T O   O U R   G O D   I N   T H E   M A N G E R

Week 4                                                                                                                                  Human

English: Uploaded from : http://upload.wikimed...

         Fulfilled

And now the promise is fulfilled,
the Word is complete,
and each sinner dies before God, and
each proclamation creates new life from old death.
The promise is fulfilled at Christmas,
and we are there in this
God-time,
aware in this real time,
alive in this time that does not stand still.
The great miracle has been proclaimed,
and we live it beside this tiny manger,
with this adored baby.
No mighty one tonight,
but a baby is in our view,
and all power is there, obscured in humanity.
Amidst sinfulness, sin dies; God goes there.
In weakness and illness, wretched ones dies; God comes in.
In the misery of lonely death, the light shines.
God is there.
Some come in loneliness, in long nights.
Tonight, the light shines, our God lives, and
I am alive and filled with joy.
Under this tree, I live;
the promise is fulfilled.
I too shine by the manger.

(c) Tom Bolton, 21 December 2013, Deep in Divine Intervention

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Devotions to Our God in the Manger: Light and Man

Posted on December 23, 2013 by Tom Bolton

A D V E N T   2 0 1 3:    D E V O T I O N S   T O   O U R   G O D   I N   T H E   M A N G E R

Week 4                                                                                                                                   Human

Ask, Seek, Knock

  The Light and the Man

Word.   God.   Light.   Life.    Light.
Human, really human,
and human nature is illumined by
the light.
We too are called to be really human,
God-made human,
God-loved human,
and the light rests on something deep,
and deeper in each of us.
Joy in the Word!
Joy to the World!
God has lifted his love above
everything we can imagine.
Love lies in the manger.
The light shines.
The word is made light, and
as it was in the beginning,
the word is God.
This is a baby in the manger–tonight–
beyond our understanding, and
brighter than we see sometimes.
Again, joy in the Word!
Joy to our World!

(c) Tom Bolton, 20 December 2013, Tippecanoe

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Devotions to Our God in the Manger: Human Too

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Tom Bolton

A D V E N T   2 0 1 3:    D E V O T I O N S   T O   O U R   G O D   I N   T H E   M A N G E R

Week 4                                                                                                                                    Human

Jesus

Jesus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

          Human Too

So human, so child,
Can it be?
And now I remember that Jesus takes shape in we humans;
it is not our form,
but a repetition of form.
May I become human as God became human.
May I change and be transformed,
as a child of Him.
May I be scandalized and upset by
this image of the God-man;
may I see the sanctity and seriousness.
May my faith be renewed as a child.
I see this image of hope now.
Light and growth in some mirror,
I see things anew.

(c) Tom Bolton, 20 December 2014, on ice

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