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The main Thing
By Lyndi Lee Markus
“I know you believe in Jesus, so I don’t condemn you for being Catholic,” ten-year-old me generously (read: patronizingly) told my ten-year-old best friend. “Well,” she retorted, “I don’t condemn you for not being Catholic.” I stared, dumbfounded…Could she do that? That was my first striking exposure to an opposing ideal that would exist alongside my own. My little friend and I, coming at the world from different corners, somehow still met in the middle. We stayed friends. I may not be proud of my benevolent speech now, especially as I’ve grown in my appreciation for the liturgy and tradition of the Church’s history, but a couple of thoughts stand out to me from that experience with my friend. Through my own childish lenses for faith and family, I was reckoning with a tension we’ll all encounter at some point—loving a friend while realizing we were very, very different in crucial ways. My superior attitude toward her came from fear—a desire to be right (and the perceived threat of being proven wrong.) I also defined “evangelism” in a way that had nothing to do with the fact that the gospel meets each of us exactly where we are, but instead with the narrow view that everyone should believe as I do. How easily we allow our pet opinions to become hills we’ll die on—altars where we martyr the faith of those who disagree, even though we can’t see what God is doing in their hearts! God, from a position of perfection, looks at us with a posture of love, asking questions instead of condemning, letting truth speak for itself in the dark places of our hearts and asking us to speak it back to Him (Genesis 3:1-13; Exodus 14:5-25: Jonah 4:1-11). Is there a truth He’s asking you to speak today?
Position Mixtapes
By Pastor Kenneth Robertson and Lyndi Lee Markus
The more we learn to see how someone’s experience shapes their position, the more empathy and love we can bring to the relationship.
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Recent Articles
Position Mixtapes
How do we know what we know? How do we determine our position, or what we believe, on various issues? We all combine different sources of knowledge in different ways, resulting in a highly personalized position mixtape. The four sources of knowledge are Scripture, personal experience, reason, and tradition. How
Gentle and Right
“Why do you want to do this now?” my business partner asked. “it’s not the right time.” I sulked for a moment, then retaliated. “I’ve been doing most of the work all on my own for the past month. What does it matter to you when we decide to do
What I Said and How I Said It
“Pastor, I don’t know what to think. A loving God can’t possibly think this about me, can He?” The voice on the recording belonged to a young woman who described herself as bisexual (attracted to men and women). She had been building trust with our community over the last few
What I Wish I’d Known About Anxiety
For years, and I’m ashamed of this, I was the guy in the room thinking, “Oh man, not another emotional staff mess to deal with.” I was 38 years old and just as stressed out and tired as anyone else (that seemed to be a pre-req for EDGE Corps at
Naming Our Fears, Reclaiming Our Hope
When I was a young father, my wife Cathy, and I moved from our settled hometown to our dream counseling graduate program in Denver. We felt thrilled and in the center of God’s will. However, our then 10-year-old son, Seth, was struggling. His loneliness, isolation, and new school left him
The Unexpected Companion
I will never forget my first meeting with the psychiatrist. His office was in a mental health hospital, and it was straight out of a movie… complete with a creaky gate, old brick buildings, and zombie-like patients walking the grounds in hospital gowns. After a litany of questions, the doctor
Unflappable: Flying by Faith in the Face of Fear
“You’re so unflappable,” people tell me sometimes. And I laugh. Every time I choose to use my voice to say something that’s hard, I always have a level of anxiety internally before I say it. I don’t know if my anxiety will ever go away, but as a child and
Anxiety: An Invitation to Slow Down
“Parang malalim yata ang iniisip mo?” (English: “Looks like you’re thinking about something deep.”) As a child, my anxiety was perceived as deep thinking. When anxiety takes hold of me, it consumes my thoughts, and often blinds me to the promise of God’s tender and infinite care for me. When
A New Song
“How’s your health, Caitlin?” This was a simple question from a caring Navigator staff woman, as we caught up during a wedding weekend in 2009. Suddenly, the room spun and I had trouble breathing. Heart racing, I lay down on her couch and tried to compose myself. What in the
Worry Proven to be Highly Effective
A scientific study has revealed the significant effectiveness of worry and anxiety. It turns out that over 95 percent of the thing we worry about never occur! 🙂 In spite of this “scientific study,” we see Jesus taking a different view. In Matthew 6:25-34, He addresses the fears that often
Archives
Position Mixtapes
How do we know what we know? How do we determine our position, or what we believe, on various issues? We all combine different sources
Gentle and Right
“Why do you want to do this now?” my business partner asked. “it’s not the right time.” I sulked for a moment, then retaliated. “I’ve
What I Said and How I Said It
“Pastor, I don’t know what to think. A loving God can’t possibly think this about me, can He?” The voice on the recording belonged to
What I Wish I’d Known About Anxiety
For years, and I’m ashamed of this, I was the guy in the room thinking, “Oh man, not another emotional staff mess to deal with.”
Naming Our Fears, Reclaiming Our Hope
When I was a young father, my wife Cathy, and I moved from our settled hometown to our dream counseling graduate program in Denver. We
The Unexpected Companion
I will never forget my first meeting with the psychiatrist. His office was in a mental health hospital, and it was straight out of a
Unflappable: Flying by Faith in the Face of Fear
“You’re so unflappable,” people tell me sometimes. And I laugh. Every time I choose to use my voice to say something that’s hard, I always
Beauty Tips and Tricks
Position Mixtapes
How do we know what we know? How do we determine our position, or what we believe, on various issues? We all combine different sources
Gentle and Right
“Why do you want to do this now?” my business partner asked. “it’s not the right time.” I sulked for a moment, then retaliated. “I’ve
What I Said and How I Said It
“Pastor, I don’t know what to think. A loving God can’t possibly think this about me, can He?” The voice on the recording belonged to
What I Wish I’d Known About Anxiety
For years, and I’m ashamed of this, I was the guy in the room thinking, “Oh man, not another emotional staff mess to deal with.”
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