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by Brian Niece
Something Beyond Nothing?
The God We Don’t Yet Know
most recent posts
Non-conformist: Becoming “Non” for Lent | Week 4
There are dozens, likely hundreds of ways, we conform to what’s expected of us and what we’ve learned is normal. And it is highly probable that we conform in these ways without even being aware of it.
The Antonym of Me: A Lenten Confession
Do you ever feel like the antonym of all you want to be? Flawed, helpless, ineffective, uninspired, failed? Maybe there is something to be discovered in the space between where we are and where we want to be.
Non-equivalent: Becoming “Non” for Lent | Week 3
Though we worthily strive to speak with inclusivity and practice equality, the harsh reality is that much inequality persists. Also, we grow every time we view ourselves as non-equivalent in relation to so much we aspire toward.
A Little Cheek Turning: God’s Goodness & Turning the Other Cheek
If we choose, we can be dependent on God’s uncontrolling goodness. Then, that goodness becomes the lens through which we determine how to love God, ourselves, and others.
Non-dualistic: Becoming “Non” for Lent | Week 2
We have grown so accustomed to viewing ourselves, our beliefs, and our world as a struggle between extremes that it’s difficult to pry ourselves away from that for one week of Lent to become non-dualistic. But if we manage such a colossal feat, we may be surprised with what we discover.
The Good Muslim: A Parable
One day, a religious expert wanted to test Jesus, so he asked, “How do I experience God-quality life?”
Jesus answered, as he so often did, with a question, “What do you see in your own texts; how do you interpret them?”
Non-directional: Becoming “Non” for Lent | Week 1
To suggest the notion of becoming non-directional in our results-driven, success-oriented, goal-making, and goal-pursuing society seems almost blasphemous. Yet for this first week of Lent, that’s exactly what I’m suggesting we consider becoming.
What Does It Mean to Become “Non” for Lent?
This 6-week journey of "Becoming 'Non' for Lent" is something I've chosen to do for two reasons: It can be replicated at any time during the year, and be revisited with different "nons" each Lent; For Jesus-followers and others alike, we need space and time to...
Embracing Our Stories
Our stories are part of us. They've been part of the human project for all of our shared memory. A man and a woman, a tree and an apple, at the beginning of human history. Or an earth-diving bird who plunges from the great beyond to the depths of the sea, disturbing...
Why Jesus Was, and Still Is, a Refugee
There are two primary uses of the “Jesus was/was not a refugee” argument that I’ve seen written about extensively. And this is not just a current context thing. These arguments have been around for decades.
Gumballs, Immigrants, and the God We Don’t Yet Know
With the current immigration policy debate in US America, there is a particular video lecture circulating social media that involves gumballs. What's disheartening to me, is that I see it posted mostly by friends and acquaintances who are privileged, white American...
Practicing Resurrection Subversively
How easily we forget. If resurrection is both a reality and a metaphor for how we view the world, then we should be about practicing resurrection in creative ways all the time. Enter stage right: Wendell Berry. Wendell Berry is a novelist, poet, farmer, activist, and...