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Rethinking Anger and Peacemaking
When scrolling through social media or listening to the news, it seems lots of people are angry, for a lot of different reasons. It may be tempting to dismiss such anger as divisive. However, as a professor and student of rhetoric, I am troubled by this tendency to dismiss other people and their arguments simply because we believe those arguments are made in anger. If we are committed to peacemaking and eliminating injustice, we need to be open to discussions, even if the framing or content of those discussions makes us uncomfortable. Not all anger is equal I want to be clear: I’m not saying we should give a pass…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Praying the Beatitudes
I have been using a scripture study practice called lectio divina to ponder the Beatitudes. (I learned about this practice from the podcast, Harry Potter and the Sacred Text.) Recently, I studied Jesus’s saying, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” First I read the verse. Then I read it again, slowly, listening for the meaning that the Spirit might wish to impart to me. Then I reflected on the meaning that came to mind. I felt prompted to work for a better understanding of the phrase “pure in heart.” After consulting the concordance, I found that another way to understand “pure in heart” is “clear in…
