So many things we achieve are achieved only through struggle and conflict, not in easy ways. They always seem to involve crosses. I have so longed to find somewhere in life some corner where joy is unmingled with pain. But I have never found it. Wherever I find joy, my own or other people’s, it …
Time sure flies, doesn’t it? Two years ago on Halloween, I started my Leadership Residency at The District Church, not sure where the road would lead or what would happen, not sure whether or not I was even called to fulltime pastoral ministry. I guess God did, though; and one year ago today, I was ordained and began …
I have a new quote on my desk from French philosopher and priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, that reads: Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God. (I have Stephen Colbert to thank for bringing it to my attention.) A couple weeks ago, life was dragging a little bit. I wasn’t unhappy …
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Grateful for this reminder of perspective from Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening: “Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work.” Psalm 92:4 Do you believe that your sins are forgiven, and that Christ has made a full atonement for them? Then what a joyful Christian you ought to be! How you should live above …
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Previously on “Justin @The District Church” Washington, DC: Chapter 2 (October 11, 2010) Beginning November (and the Leadership Residency) (November 1, 2010) Why The District Church? (November 18, 2010) Dear friends, Well, I did it: this past Sunday, I tried something new … I preached for the first time ever! I gave the second message …