Author: Rob Loane
Page: 14
“People are longing to rediscover true community. We have had enough of loneliness, independence, and competition.” Jean Vanier For so many of us today accomplishment, praise, and power are failing to address the deepest longings of our heart. Others admire and even envy our performance, nearly flawless, but inside there is deep and echoing hollowness […]
I have come across a number of people this summer who will be facilitating an Emerging Journey group in the fall. Many of these men and women have just finished going through the process in their church and, because of its significance in their life, they signed up to be a facilitator of a group for […]
I was reading this morning in Richard Foster’s excellent book, Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home (HarperCollins, 1992) and came across this comparison from Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153). Bernard writes, “If then you are wise, you will show yourself rather as a reservoir than as a canal. For a canal spreads abroad water as it […]
One of the joys of June is hosting the facilitator training retreats in various parts of the continent. A unique collection of pastors, church staff, and lay people gather in a peer learning environment in order to be prepared to facilitate an Emerging Journey or an Equipping Experience group in their local church context. In […]
A unique group of people gathered last month to celebrate Dr. J. Robert Clinton’s legacy and influence in their lives. During this occasion, Clinton addressed the group with a talk entitled “Finishing Well or Testing My Legacy.” He returned to some themes and observations very familiar to the group. Leadership is difficult. Very few leaders […]
I was doing some reading yesterday afternoon and came across a prayer from Walter Brueggemann. I thought I would share it with you all. I couldn’t help but think of Sam Gamgee’s question to Frodo in The Lord of the Rings — “What sort of tale have we fallen into?” The prayer/poem is entitled “Swept […]
One of the central surprises within the biblical testimony is the way Jesus’ life expresses God’s power and authority. In many ways, Jesus turns all 1st century understandings of authority on their head. The “but not so with you” (Luke 22:26) of his teaching and his life offended many and shocked everyone. Most who were […]
We face tremendous pressure in our lives today to be simply spectators of thisJesus. But faithful living has never been a spectator sport. Over 150 years ago Danish Christian thinker Søren Kierkegaard emphasized this by drawing a contrast between being an admirer and being an imitator. He wrote: What, then, is the difference between an […]
I was doing some reading this afternoon and I came across a story that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about. So I thought I would share it with you and let it do some stirring in your mind and heart. There once was an old monk, wise and holy, who lived in a […]
On a recent trip to Cincinnati I was enjoying a good cup of coffee and a good conversation with Vic Gordon, a good friend who pastors Kenwood Baptist Church. We were discussing how hard it is at times to gain trust, and how rewarding a relationship can become on the other side of the things […]
Jesus’ personal way with others always offers an alternative to our culture’s dominant ways of relating. He lived out his mission by forming and developing a learning community of disciples. He had many other options available to him, but he chose to live out his purposes by being with his followers, life upon life. What […]
This morning I was reminded again of Soren Kierkegaard’s phrase “to need God is man’s highest perfection.” First time I heard these words I was sitting in a summer class up at Regent College in Vancouver, B.C. Somewhere midway through a morning lecture, Dr. James Houston got off his notes and began to reflect more personally […]