The 60-Second Sabbath

paradox

  • Conviction

    Let your doubts be known,    embrace them,    articulate them,but find your convictions as well,    embrace them,    articulate them. The paradoxical beauty of the holy lifeis having permission to stand firmwhile losing the need to be right. Text and… Continue reading

  • A Limerick for Christmas (Day 10)

    There was a wee infant so coldAttended by ordure and gold,    A paradox stabled,    Our God somehow cradled.We've never seen helpless so bold. Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading

  • Christmas Cozy

    I told himthat each year at ChristmasI like to read Christmas stories and Christmas poems. He said,"No one does Christmas cozy like Dirk!" And I thought of the story by Dickens I'd just read,about poverty and injustice in 19th-century London.I… Continue reading

  • The Border of Language

    I like lurking at the border of language,where the tongue blurs, slurs with vagueness. I hover here at the brink of Eden,eager to taste my own marrow. Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading

  • Core Word #5: Paradox

    My dad once owned a sailboat with another physician. They named her Paradox. Get it? I appreciated the pun then, and I appreciate the concept now. Paradox means holding two opposing, contradictory points as equally true. If you need everything… Continue reading

  • Core Word #4: Mystery

    Mystery runs a close second to stillness in my list of favorite words In liturgical Christian churches, worshipers each week gather to proclaim "the mystery of our faith": Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ shall come again. The mystery… Continue reading

  • The Words I Love

    In the movie Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, the title character, anticipating her demise (at the stake), tearfully tells her friends: "When I'm gone, I want to be remembered with two simple words…(pause)…any two words, as long as they're simple."… Continue reading

  • Faith, Perhaps?

    Open up your New Testament to the gospels. Read the stories and teachings of Jesus. Most don't allow for easy resolutions; instead, Jesus invites us to struggle, to live in tension, to be comfortable not knowing what the "right" answer is.… Continue reading

  • Halloween: Mystery

    Halloween offers appreciation for the mysterious, that which lies outside of logic and reason. This is, in fact, an important and necessary function of religion; embracing mystery and the inexplicable reflects healthy spirituality. Not everything can be–nor needs to be–sorted out, rationalized, categorized… Continue reading