The 60-Second Sabbath

forgiveness

  • Soon Enough

    Death comes soon enough;Why invite it in early?     Why be jealous? Why be angry?        Why nurse the grudge,        rehearse the hurt?    Why resent? Why fear? Why welcome decay?Why hurry death? Soon enough. Soon enough. Text… Continue reading

  • Forgiveness

    Want to reduce stress?    lower blood pressure?    release anger?    relieve depression?Want to feel more optimistic?    hopeful?    compassionate?    physically energized? All will be yoursif you forgive. You're the one who suffersif you do not. We… Continue reading

  • Original Sin

    Listen up,all you original sinners:we've gotten it backwards. When Augustine first proposedthe doctrine,it wasn't to say,"See how bad you are!" Augustine assertedthe opposite:    "You struggle with sin    because you inherited    the tendancy toward it.    It's not your fault!" Text and image… Continue reading

  • Another Take on Justice

    Justice,for God,is restorative,not retributive. When his detractorswanted Jesusto condemn,to punish,he insteadforgives,restores,takes it backto before the offense. This is God's justice–not the slow burn in hellbut the time machine returnto original oneness. Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All… Continue reading

  • Sermon in the Park, Part 1

    "That whole eye-for-an-eye,    tooth-for-a-tooth thing?That's crap–    always has been.It never was a part of the plan." He speaks,    as he loves to do,to friends and supporters    gathered at the parkon a warm summer evening    close… Continue reading

  • We, the Imperfect

    Jesus never slammed the sinners.Jesus never cursed mistakes.Jesus never mocked beginners,leaving chaos in his wake. Only those convinced they'd made itto some arid, righteous peak,leaving all their faults behind them,felt the sting of his critique. We are human, prone to… Continue reading

  • Aurora, CO, July 20, 2012

    Take nothing you lovefor granted. Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading

  • Penitence

    P is for presuming I've compassion.E is for the envy that I feel.N is the nursing of depression.I is for the innocence I steal.T is for the time I keep on wasting.E is for each moment lived in fear.N is… Continue reading

  • Mean Thoughts

    I spend too much timerounding up mean thoughts,hoarding trivialities,trapping mice in my moldy cellarand keeping them in cages in the living room. Why do I value them so?Why not simply let them go?Why not turn them loose in the field… Continue reading

  • Amazing Grace 1

    Nancy's favorite hymn,"Amazing Grace,"was what she wanted sungat her funeral. Several days after her deaththe family sat downwith a patient funeral directorto settle on the details. "No," my father said,"That's such a cliche;there are better hymns." No doubt there are,and… Continue reading