by jakeowensby | Jan 27, 2023 | Beatitude, Humble, Lent, Matthew 5:1-12, Poor in Spirit
We all want to be happy. And yet, if you dedicate your life to pursuing happiness, you’ll never be happy. This may seem like a contradiction to you. But prophets and theologians, philosophers and priests have been saying it for ages. Recently I heard a story that...
by jakeowensby | Apr 9, 2021 | John 20:19-31
Forgiveness is what love looks like when you don’t feel like it. That’s a paraphrase of something Wendell Berry once said. To put that a different way, forgiveness is the kind of love that we give imperfect things. Things that aren’t always so likable. And since...
by jakeowensby | Nov 13, 2020 | Matthew 25:14-30
You’re not supposed to stand on the top three rungs of a ladder. I did it anyway, even though I recognized at the time what a bad idea it was. This was a 32-foot extension ladder. Even leaned against a wall at a precariously straight angle, it had not brought me...
by jakeowensby | Jul 3, 2020 | Uncategorized
The Irish are happier than we Americans. Big deal, you might be thinking. Of course they are! Everybody knows they’re a laugh a minute. But the Canadians, the Germans, and the Finns are happier than us, too. The Finns rank number one. The people of permafrost,...
by jakeowensby | Aug 2, 2019 | Luke 12:13-21
Don’t worry, be happy. Said Jesus. Never. On a weekend tragically shattered by back-to-back massacres in El Paso and Dayton, Jesus has a very different word for us. Jesus doesn’t want us to be unhappy. He wants something more than happiness for us. The pursuit...
