Beatitudes Blog
What Is A Disciple? A Reflection on Luke 24:36-49
While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?...
Success: A Reflection After My Conversation With Charlie Hedges
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5). Recently, Charlie Hedges contacted me after he read my post, “Lord, Teach Us to Pray: Petition as Contemplation.” He said, “Marshall, you and I swim in the same pond.” After learning more about him,...
Good, In Other Words (poem)
Good, In Other Words J. Marshall Jenkins Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled (Mt 5:6). He wanted to do something good, the meaning of which he worked and reworked with improvising mind and earnest heart, with feet and...
Waking Nicodemus
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God (Matthew 5:9). At night, we sleep. We also do then what we never do in the light of day. I, Nicodemus, visited Jesus at night. I did not go to scout for my colleagues in our clerical court called...
Pray Without Ceasing (and still finish the laundry)
Let’s roll up our sleeves, get down in the dirt, and pray.
A Therapist Queries His Wife, A Pianist, About Silence (poem)
A Therapist Queries His Wife, a Pianist, About Silence J. Marshall Jenkins (for Wanda, Valentine's Day 2024) When musicians talk, what do you say about the silence between the notes? Is it like the silence between us as we sleep and eat or as we segue from talking...
Hope From Grief: A Reflection on Ezekiel in the Valley of Dry Bones
Read Ezekiel 37:1-14 Hope and Prophecy Grief is natural and necessary. A flesh wound heals with its inevitable pain, bleeding, scabbing, and scarring. It is neither pretty nor comfortable before the wound disappears or we adapt to it. Just so with grief’s angry...
Why I Believe in Eternal Life
Several months before my father’s death, I wrote this piece to ease his worries as he sensed the time approaching. It turned out to be my most widely-read post.
Dusk At Shiloh: Sermon on 1 Samuel 3
Sermon text: 1 Samuel 3 Something sacred happens at dusk. The purple and orange clouds in the western sky herald the sun just set. The green of leaves and grass deepen like the sea, and the brown woods blacken. There is just enough light to see and search, just enough...
What Shadows Belie (poem)
What Shadows Belie J. Marshall Jenkins In him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it (John 1:4-5). The more light shines in my long memory, the more shadows proliferate. For an...
From Rapture Back to Earth: A Meditation on Mark 13
(Suggestion: Read Mark 13) Growing up in the rural South, rapture was in the air. Not the blissful rapture of lovers, but the gravity-defying rapture of fundamentalists and readers of Hal Lindsey’s mega-bestselling book, The Late, Great Planet Earth. This vision of...
Gratitude First
Take a moment to count your blessings… Congratulations! You just got on the right spiritual path.
As a psychotherapist and spiritual director, I bring well-honed insight and skill to these posts; yet, my vulnerability plays a more important part, for more than advice from experts, serious people of faith need resonance with fellow travelers.
In my writing and in your reading and comments, may we face our challenges in God’s compassionate presence rather than in a private dressing room where we try in vain to make ourselves presentable to God at an appointed meeting. God meets us where we are.
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