Beatitudes Blog
What Shadows Belie (poem)
What Shadows Belie J. Marshall Jenkins In him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it (John 1:4-5). The more light shines in my long memory, the more shadows proliferate. For an...
From Rapture Back to Earth: A Meditation on Mark 13
(Suggestion: Read Mark 13) Growing up in the rural South, rapture was in the air. Not the blissful rapture of lovers, but the gravity-defying rapture of fundamentalists and readers of Hal Lindsey’s mega-bestselling book, The Late, Great Planet Earth. This vision of...
Gratitude First
Take a moment to count your blessings… Congratulations! You just got on the right spiritual path.
Mountaintops and the Art of Freedom
Sermon Texts Exodus 20:1-17 (The Ten Commandments) Matthew 5:1-12 (The Beatitudes) For the YouTube of the sermon, click here. Mountaintops: Touching the heavens, we fancy them closer to God. Up in the thin air, we survey the mountain range and the valley below. The...
Until You Hear (poem)
Until You Hear J. Marshall Jenkins If your life ends today before you think it means anything, another hundred years will not add a word unless, of course, you change your mind and trust it to mean something, you know not what. And that is good because now you can ask...
Life in Kairos Time
Would Jesus’ teachings and promises draw crowds today? Would his promises satisfy our yearning? Would we care?
Ryan and Julia Sapena Wedding Homily, September 30, 2023
Ryan, on behalf of everyone gathered here, thank you for proposing to Julia. Julia, we thank you for saying yes. Some here have known and loved Ryan for a very long time, and others, Julia. All of us gathered here have come to love you both as a couple, and we are...
A Listener’s Prayer
A Listener’s Prayer J. Marshall Jenkins My Lord God, With a holy heart broken for me, you heal me by breaking my heart for others. Another child of yours sits before me. With the mind of Christ, I put myself aside. We pan this child’s words until we find gold, a...
What Every Heart Needs (poem)
What Every Heart Needs J. Marshall Jenkins Every heart needs a witness: hidden enough as it is, it needs to be known, cannot remain invisible, yet it can only be seen by its own. Every heart needs tears lest it shrivel and harden like a forgotten raisin...
Love Wears Down Walls
On moving out of our comfort zone to get to lasting peace.
Praying Through Depression (poem)
Praying Through Depression by J. Marshall Jenkins My Lord God, when the cares of the world distract me from the gift of breath, and my worries insist they are as real as the moment’s pain, when regrets come home to crowd and clamor my memory, and the future...
Science, Mysticism, and the Power of Unknowing
Don’t rely too much on what you know. Unknowing may save your life. Read on to see what I mean…
As a psychotherapist and spiritual director, I bring well-honed insight and skill to these posts; yet, my vulnerability plays a more important part, for more than advice from experts, serious people of faith need resonance with fellow travelers.
In my writing and in your reading and comments, may we face our challenges in God’s compassionate presence rather than in a private dressing room where we try in vain to make ourselves presentable to God at an appointed meeting. God meets us where we are.
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