Category: Life Lessons – Experience
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When Darkness Is Exposed by Light
A Daily Office Reflection from The Curious Pilgrim Remembering a Summer in Mississippi This evening after work, I began watching the film Ghosts of Mississippi, the story of the murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers in Jackson, Mississippi in 1963 and the long road to justice that finally led to the conviction of Byron…
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When Wailing Turns to Dancing
A Reflection on Psalm 30, Deuteronomy 7:17-26, Titus 3:1-15, and John 1:43-51 One of the gifts of the Daily Office is that it does not hide the tension of faith. Some mornings the readings feel comforting and clear. Other mornings, they raise questions that linger long after the prayers are finished. Today’s readings are like…
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Fret Not: When Religion Blocks the Channel to God”
A Reflection on Psalm 37, Deuteronomy 7, Titus 1, and John 1 A Note from the Curious Pilgrim As I have grown older in my faith journey, I have learned that reading Scripture is not always about having the right answers. Sometimes it is about learning to ask better questions while continuing to walk in…
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Sin as the Refusal of Love: A Progressive Reflection on Today’s Office Readings
Today’s readings—Psalm 32, Jonah 3:1–4:11, Hebrews 3:1–14, and Luke 18:9–14—are oftenframed as being “about sin.” Traditionally, sin has been defined as transgression of divine law,falling short of holiness, or moral failure. While these definitions have biblical grounding, theyhave also too often fueled fear-based religion, legalism, and spiritual comparison—the veryposture Jesus critiques in the parable of…
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The Table, the Porch, and the Mystery
5 Three places have shaped my understanding of life more than I realized at the time: At first glance, they seem unrelated. One is sacred. One is domestic. One is fictional entertainment. But the older I get, the more I see they are all about the same thing: Mystery and connection. The Holy Mystery of…
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God Comes to Us in Many Different Ways
February 12 — A Life Lesson “Be still, and know that I am God.” — Psalm 46:10 There was a time in my life when I believed God spoke in only one way — through Scripture, through church, through sermons preached from a pulpit. But seventy-six years of living have taught me something different. God…
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🍃 Life Lessons from the Porch
Coming Home to Where the Story Began There are moments in life when you realize the road you have traveled was not taking you away from your beginnings — it was slowly guiding you back to understand them. Recently, I reread the Ethos page of this blog and recognized three truths that have quietly shaped…
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When Religion Wounds and Grace HealsPart Six: When “We’ve Always Done It This Way” Becomes Law
A reflection on Galatians 3:28 and Mark 7:23 A Pastoral Note for Wounded Readers If you have ever been corrected, scrutinized, or made to feel out of place in the church—not for lack of faith, but for how your faith was embodied—this reflection is written for you. Nothing here is meant to shame the church;…
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When God Needs Nothing—and Still Feeds the Hungry
A Devotional Reflection on Psalm 50, Galatians 3:1–14, and Mark 6:30–46 Scripture Readings God Is Not Sustained by Our Religion Psalm 50 opens with a startling declaration from God: “Every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills… I know all the birds of the air.” This psalm dismantles a deeply…
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When Religion Wounds and Grace Heals
A Final Benediction: Staying Where Love Abides This series began with an honest confession:that religion can wound, even when it means well.That Scripture can be used to frighten rather than to free.And that many of us learned to fear God long before we learned to trust Him. What we have been unlearning together is not…
The Curious Pilgrim 