trust

Loaves, Fishes, and Brisket at Flipside: Fear doesn’t have to drive our friendships or our economics.

Published May 31, 2012 by Doug Harrison

In the story of the loaves and fishes, Jesus takes the little bit of food offered to him from a small boy and breaks it, blesses it and gives it to those who had been following him for days who had become hungry. That small gift ends up feeding several thousand people to the point where there are several baskets full after everyone has eaten. It is another one of the miracles a lot of people love to reference to show Jesus’ supernatural powers. But I spent some time with some friends this weekend that reminded me of another reading of that story. It is one with less magic but one that might actually be a bigger miracle.

The Burner life

burning flipside burning man Christianity Community gift economy giftedness gifts grace kingdom of God Religion and Spirituality Self Reliance thank you trust welcome

When the Bough Breaks: A fallen limb in a friendship is not a dead tree.

Published May 10, 2012 by Doug Harrison

Its is the second worst storm I endured since I moved to Texas, making it the second worst storm of my life. I had been praying, trying to center, and needing to be present. The storm hit my house exactly within the first five minutes of sitting down with someone for spiritual direction. The wind was rattling the windows and tossing bits of the back yard around. The whole house chilled. I considered ending our time together because I was able to give the moment only 99% of my attention. I was being tugged away by one haunting thought. Will the tree hold?

The Impossible Will Take A little While.

Arts Asclepias tuberosa bough Easter Eastertide fallen limb fallen tree friendship garden grace hope love repentance Spiritual direction storm tree trust

End of the Story: Most of the truths we live by are things we cannot prove. Beauty is just one of them. (Faith for Reasons)

Published April 30, 2012 by Doug Harrison

We live in a moment in history in which truth is only found in this fairly new thing we reinvented called a ‘fact.’ “This is a table,” we say. It is a fact that the thing I just set my cup on is a “table.” Ta-da! End of story… It is an idea that seems pretty hard to argue with until all of a sudden I take that same table apart and plan to build a flower bed out of it. Fairly quickly it becomes lumber. So it is now not a table after all. Er… right? That is the case until I decide without making any changes to the pile, to burn it in a fire. Without moving an inch, by mere planning in my head, it becomes fuel. This pile of wood is fuel for my fire, end of story. …Or perhpas this is where the importance of ‘story’ just begins.

Faith for Reasons.

apologetics Arts beauty Christ Christianity creation creationism creationist Evangelism Fiction God hope Human kingdom of God Narrative narrative theology Plato Religion and Spirituality Story trust Truth violence

How my relationship with Jesus is, and is not, personal.

Published April 24, 2012 by Doug Harrison

How my relationship with Jesus is, and is not, personal.

When I was young I would go to camp or a youth service where I was told that what I needed was a personal relationship with Jesus. It made a kind of sense as a lot of things do for children because I was still relying on other people to teach me how to make sense of things. So I agreed, with no regrets.

However, I happen to be the kind of person, and have been since childhood, to throw myself headlong into the task at hand whatever it may be. So I was bound and determined to have the most personal relationship with Jesus a person could have. This is a dangerous prayer. The trouble began when I took it so seriously it started to take my life in some surprising if not shocking directions that none of my youth pastors had anticipated.

Faith for Reasons.

Accept Jesus accepting Jesus apologetics Bible Christian Christian theology Christianity Church Evangelism First Epistle of John God Interpersonal relationship jesus John John 4 kingdom of God love personal relationship trust works of mercy

“No Wonder the Door Won’t Open, Silly. I am Already Inside.” -Three things about being a misfit in communities of grace that I keep having to re-learn.

Published April 13, 2012 by Doug Harrison

Clearly I write from a position of someone who sits near the exit. I love church, but sometimes I find it exhausting. I love my weirdo burner friends, and sometimes they can be a little harsh on my faith. I long to be in Christian community, yet, depending on the community, I find myself itching to get out. I am finding that there are hidden moments of grace ready for the taking in all kinds of communities. And when I am willing to exercise a little humility and receive it, I find that that grace goes further than the edges of my life, and often finds its way into the open wild.

The Impossible Will Take A little While.

Bible Study burning flipside burning man Christ Christian Christian Church Christianity Community Easter Evangelism fear God grace hope kingdom of God misfit Religion and Spirituality thank you trust welcome

Five Un-truths of Easter

Published April 9, 2012 by Doug Harrison

There are somethings we can mistakenly embrace about Easter that distract us from the real hope that can help shape our lives. These things are worth evaluating, not to deflate us, but to focus us on where the real hope lies.

Living in Easter

Benedict Community Courage darkness death Easter gifts hope Jerusalem jesus lent repentance Resurrection trust

The Impossible Will Take A Little While.

Published April 9, 2012 by Doug Harrison

It is harder than it looks to know how to take Easter. On the one hand it feels like an easy home run, a touchdown, a triumphal entry. But those were the kinds of thing we were celebrating last week. How then is this week different? For one thing it amazes how few people to whom Jesus appeared after the resurrection.

One would think he would be taking out billboards all over town that said, “I told you so!” but he doesn’t. The first to see Jesus would be the last we would expect. It was not the disciples, not even his family, but one of the worst outcasts of all of his company: Mary Magdalene.

"Disappointed with God"

Christian Easter God heart Holy Week hope Jesu jesus Joy kingdom of God lent Mary Mary Magdalene palm sunday repentance trust violence

Help Me Get This Sadness Out My House. A Story About Rubber Gloves and Grace.

Published February 28, 2012 by Doug, the patient.

Help Me Get This Sadness Out My House. A Story About Rubber Gloves and Grace.

Years ago I got caught in a pretty debilitating depression. I let things snowball to a point I felt I had little or no refuge left. Every part of life looked bleak including my own bedroom. On weekends I would lie in bed all day and look at piles of laundry, fast food wrappers, stacks of unopened bills and just junk. Blech. It literally made it hard to get out of bed in the morning (or sometimes in the afternoon). One could sprain an ankle on the way to the bathroom. At one point it became difficult for me to imagine that the room would ever be clean. I would lie in bed and pray, “please, someone come and get this sadness out my house.” To my great surprise, one time, someone did.

Tohu-Bohu

Community darkness friendship gift economy giftedness gifts gloves grace heart help hope lent repentance rubber gloves trust

Taking Candy From Strangers: grace and the everyday gift economy pt. 1

Published November 12, 2011 by Doug Harrison

“Don’t take candy from strangers,” is one of the first proverbial lessons we try to teach our children. Its up there with looking both ways before you cross the street. It is even higher than, “stop, drop and roll.” Its an important precursor to, “there is no such thing as a free lunch.” But it is also why my friend Rich thinks that Halloween (not all saints day, not all souls day, not a ‘harvest festival,” but Halloween) is one of the best holidays for Christians and Burners to celebrate, precisely because it is so much about candy and strangers…

The Burner life Tohu-Bohu

burning flipside burning man candy gift economy giftedness gifts halloween thank you trust

Tag: trust