"Pick a psalm that speaks to your experience in life right now. Rewrite that psalm in your own words, inserting your own insights and interaction with God and the world. Be as raw and honest and emotional as the psalm writers were, and as you are when you know you have permission to express yourself freely."

Father Scott Jenkins, our ministry team pastor, gave us that spiritual exercise last week. He urged us to not worry about "getting it right" ...how did he know what would be exactly my hangup? I took him up on that, which helped.

The other day I had dream
I died and went to heaven
And there I was in that alley
You know the one,
Behind the pizza place
And you were there
You’d lost your belief
Or so you said;
Turns out it wasn’t your belief you lost
But the belief of others

Recently I was invited to speak at the Denver Street School chapel, whose tag line reads Bringing Hope to Denver’s At-Risk Youth. A few days before I spoke I had lunch with the students, and then it hit me. On my way there I was sensing that I might be reluctant to speak for fear it would trigger my traumatic past in a powerful way, which it did. Sitting in the lunch area gazing upon the students faces, I could sense the pain from my youth emerging just as it did years before.

They huddled around asking about you
since you went into hiding
- in the shadows -
to the outskirts of Pakistan
the edge of the wilderness.

They couldn’t take the clash of civilizations
Rome vs America vs the rest of us
and so decreed,
“it is better for one man to die,
than for the whole nation to perish.”

...even if you can't spell it: Aung San Suu Kyi (pronounced roughly "ang sun su chee"). Recently I was in a group doing "get to know you" introductions where the question was, what famous living person would you most like to meet? Slam dunk. For me, nobody else comes close, not even Britney Spears or O.J. Simpson. It might be stretching things to call Aung San Suu Kyi famous, though she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. However, she is one person for whom far greater fame would not only be appropriate, but actually helpful for the causes she represents.

We need the poor.

This is a simple truth, but often forgotten or never discovered.

But it is a truth to which I am increasingly drawn.

We need to study the Scriptures with the poor because our life experiences inform our theology, and because we'll never quite understand what a special place God has in his heart for the poor unless we hang with them. And we're the ones who will be blessed.

As I looked around at the estimated 9000 people that were gathered at the Colorado AIDS Walk to show their support for the ongoing battle against the HIV/AIDS epidemic, I was delighted to see a small group from Light of Christ E.C.C gathered in Christ’s name to extend an embracing reach over the 9000 present.As much as this representation of the faith community was a source of joy for me that morning, in many ways it was a reminder of the way people of faith aren’t visibly present in such an important crisis in our midst.

This is the first installment in a series called The Seen where we reflect on images and invite you to tell us what you see.

"God is always watching you," I was told as a child.

Why?
The question of a passer by
Young face framed between
Baseball cap backwards
And honest bewilderment

We met at 3:00 a.m. yesterday morning to begin our trek to Jena, Louisiana. It was a four hour drive, and from the various news and web postings, we expected to join 10,000-60,000 others for an historic rally.

It turned out to be a more of a pilgrimage.

A while back I was asked to find an image that could bring this quote to life....