The road goes ever on… but this blog won't

I've been blogging now for twenty years (today is the twentieth anniversary). Some years I've blogged more than others, but I've been pretty consistent. I've seen lots of blogs come—and go. Some just disappear without a trace—witness the dead links on some of my earlier posts.

Over the years, I've made a lot of friends through the blog, many of whom I've later met in person at a conference. I've probably made a few enemies as well, but that's ok. I've always tried to be honest and not put on a different face. When I review books—even ones I'm supposed to be selling—I try to show the good and bad points.

In short, I've tried to conduct this blog as I try to live my life: with integrity.

But, as they say, all good things come to an end. So, after twenty years, I've decided to call it a day. It's rather ironic, in a way. For a few years now, my stats have been abysmal, but in the last two months they've been more in line with the early days of blogging. Nevertheless, I'm no longer going to be posting here—outside of (maybe) a copyediting note here and there. Those are mostly for my own personal reference anyway.

So, after twenty years, I wish all my readers a future full of shalom, in its fullest meaning.
James

The social net and the gospel

I say we cannot preach it [the gospel] honestly, not because people might look at lack of community in our own lives and say, “You aren’t practicing what you are preaching,” but because, when we cannot offer community to people, we put them into a position where, by hearing the Gospel, they find themselves in an intolerable but hopeless situation. The Gospel challenges them to leave one life behind but does not offer a concrete road to a new life.—Ronald Rolheiser, Forgotten among the Lilies: Learning to Love beyond the Fears, 300

<idle musing>
That's the final snippet from this book. I hope you enjoyed the book and were challenged by it. I know I was. Stay tuned (as they used to say) for what is next on this blog.
</idle musing>

Community!

What, singularly, are we missing today within Christianity that could make us credible to the world and to our own families? Community.… In the end people are as agnostic about faith, Christ and the church as they are about the experience of community. When there is a strong experience of community there is generally a strong faith.—Ronald Rolheiser, Forgotten among the Lilies: Learning to Love beyond the Fears, 297

The real tragedy is…

Psychologist John Powell submits that there are only two potential tragedies in life, and dying young is not one of them.

These are the two potential tragedies: if we go through life and we do not love fully, and if we go through life and do not tell those we love that we love them.—Ronald Rolheiser, Forgotten among the Lilies: Learning to Love beyond the Fears, 290

<idle musing>
Amen and amen! This truth should be emblazened on every parent's (especially) heart. Tell your kids you love them! And then live that love out. Tell your spouse you love them! And then live that love out.
</idle musing>

Real change needs to happen

The road to final victory on the issue of abortion is long, the task mammoth. Hearts need to change, relationships need to change, sexual patterns need to change, oppression needs to be recognized; and real villains and real victims must be more accurately named.—Ronald Rolheiser, Forgotten among the Lilies: Learning to Love beyond the Fears, 266

When nobody shows up…

What kind of power may we seize upon to try to change this situation? Too many people, I am afraid, have placed their hopes in legal power, political power. The belief is that if we work hard enough we can get the laws changed, put abortionists on trial, close down abortion clinics…. And yet the only real solution is long-range. This battle, in the end, cannot be won legally and politically. Ultimately, more than laws, hearts need to be changed. Conversion is the only effective way of ultimately ending abortions. Abortion clinics will shut down when nobody shows up at their doors any more.—Ronald Rolheiser, Forgotten among the Lilies: Learning to Love beyond the Fears, 264

"Normal" vs. the godly life

The human instinct is to define the normal by idiosyncratic preference and social consensus. We need to challenge this if religion is to have an agenda that includes celibacy, social justice or anything else which goes against what most people are in fact living.—Ronald Rolheiser, Forgotten among the Lilies: Learning to Love beyond the Fears, 258