Beyond the Binary | Mystery is a God Thing

John Rice October 10, 2025

The older I get, the more I recognize and appreciate how mysterious God is. It’s a funny thing, but when I was younger, especially in my 20’s and 30’s, I was pretty sure I knew everything there was to know about God. I had read the Bible a number of times cover to cover, heard hundreds of good sermons, participated in retreats, workshops, Bible studies and conferences led by many gifted and seasoned Christians. I was very sure that I had it all figured out and was ready to defend my position from anyone who thought otherwise!

As I got older and life became less predictable and controllable, my assurance in having all the answers to life’s questions and in knowing who God is and what He/She/They would or would not do, became less and less solid. I am forever grateful that our particular brand of Christianity as a Charismatic church taught me to be open to the movement of the Holy Spirit. I believe this provided a doorway into a world where the experience of God’s presence became more important than just having the “right” theology and the right ideas about who God is and what we are allowed, or not allowed, to believe and do. The practice of the presence of God has helped me focus on the priorities that Jesus spoke about, to love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength and to love my neighbor as myself. Another priority, summarized by the prophet Micah, tells us that all God requires of us is to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God. I really love it when thousands of pages of a book are summed up in a couple of guiding principles! Not that it is a simple thing to do to follow these principles, but the “loving God and people” thing is a lifelong challenge worthy of undertaking. And for me, anyway, it opens me up to be more patient and curious about people who believe differently from me. It helps me respect their journey along the road of life and not need to judge them, correct them, teach them my way of believing, as if it’s the only right way. It’s such a freedom not to be pressured in this way! It’s way more interesting, rich and fun to “live and let live” and learn from others no matter their race, ethnicity, religion, gender or political viewpoint. This allows God to be more mysterious than I ever used to think of Him and even to see Him in, around and through all sorts of other people (and in animals and nature too😊)

God is so much bigger than we can imagine, isn’t He? He is bigger than any book, even the Bible, can fully describe to us. Though the Bible and good teachers/authors/pastors have a lot to teach us, the “walking humbly with our God” thing requires us to stay open, to seek Him daily, to be willing to be surprised, to allow God to be mysteriously awesome and to walk around in great love and respect for all that He has made.

About the Author

John lives in Pleasant Hill with his dog, Gunnar, and a multitude of guests who enjoy the peace and beauty of the Cascade foothills. With three children and three grandchildren all living in Oregon, he is continually blessed with their company and the good food that always accompanies their get-togethers!

Loving Our Enemies Within | God’s Grace is Our Superpower

John Rice July 18, 2025

Imagine yourself as a beautiful, unique clay bowl when you were born. You were one of a kind. Your shape, your color, your size were all very special and you were deeply loved, appreciated and cared for by your parents. As you started to grow older you noticed that you were different from all the other kids. A few of those kids didn’t like your different qualities and they seemed jealous or afraid of you, so they called you names and excluded you from their games. This hurt. You might have started to think that they had good reason to not like you, like maybe you were unworthy of their admiration. This all had the effect of knocking a chip out of the beautiful pottery bowl that was yourself.

Sometime later, you were frustrated because you needed something that you couldn’t afford, but someone you knew had this thing and you figured that they didn’t really need it like you needed it. So you stole it. Your conscience felt a little bad about it, but you were able to push those thoughts down in your mind…at least mostly. You noticed something like a small crack in the side of your bowl.

Then someone you loved moved far away or even died. This was like a big crack in your bowl, so big that a part of your bowl broke off and shattered. Because of this loss, you felt so bad that you tried taking drugs to ease the pain and before you knew it, you felt you couldn’t live without these drugs. You were addicted and your life really started falling apart. There were more and more cracks in the beautiful bowl that once seemed so perfect. If you believed in God, you were pretty sure God had allowed all these things to happen to you because you weren’t the good person God wanted you to be. This life, and these cracks, were punishment for your imperfections and your failings. Your clay bowl was so cracked that you thought it was useless and ready for the junk pile.

But God apparently had a different plan. Rather than judge and punish you for your bad choices and painful experiences, He began to fill in all those cracks and shattered pieces, mending them so that your bowl was restored, still useful and possibly even more beautiful than before! And not only did He repair the gaps and missing pieces, He did it with the costliest materials.

This image of you as a once perfect, then broken, and finally restored clay pot is a spiritual dynamic found in the Bible…it’s called grace.

Japanese craftsmen employ an ancient technique called “Kintsugi” to repair broken clay pots and bowls. It fits with their philosophy that just because something breaks, it shouldn't be thrown away but rather restored. This is honoring the original by giving it new life. And the new bowl or pot has an extra special dimension, having been restored with precious materials like gold or silver.

The kintsugi technique reminds me of God’s working to restore us by His grace. Grace is defined as undeserved favor. We can’t restore ourselves by our willpower and strength alone. It’s a gift of God’s grace, as Paul mentions in his letter to the believers in Ephesus:

Ephesians 2:8
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared beforehand for us to do.

How amazing that God saves us! He restores us! He transforms us! And it not only benefits ourselves…it’s for the purpose of blessing others and to make the world a better place, “to do good works which He prepared beforehand for us to do.”

Here are some pictures of bowls restored with the Kintsugi process:

Be blessed! The only thing required to have this beautiful and valuable restorative process take place in your life is to receive the grace God is pouring into you. Look for it!

About the Author

The Evolution of Our Faith | Evolving Faith

John Rice March 28, 2025

Following Jesus truly is a lifelong journey, and he invites us to grow, question, stumble and change as we traverse it. We may not always be prepared for the twists and turns or the valleys and mountains, but we can trust that our God is big enough to hold our evolving perspectives of him. We just need to maintain a posture of openness to those evolutions as well.

I remember thinking, after first making the choice to give my life to Jesus, that all was settled. I was now a Christian and with a little cleaning up of my habits and thoughts here and there, my life would be kind of static… but in a good way. I thought all things would work out in the most positive way as long as I trusted God, prayed regularly and kept learning from the Bible.

After my graduation from college, I went to an evangelical study center in Switzerland called “L’Abri”. I listened to 30 cassette tapes (do you know what those are? 😊) that held teachings on all the basic doctrines of Christianity from an evangelical point of view. This was a time of massive learning, since I wasn’t raised with this kind of knowledge for the most part. I felt I was really growing in wisdom and knowledge. And I was growing, at least in knowledge, but there was one thing that bothered me in the teaching. I was told not to trust my experience; I should only trust in the Bible as God’s perfect and infallible Word. The problem with that for me was that I had had a couple of amazing experiences with God already that were answers to prayer, and both were sacred to me in my early life of faith.

Looking back, one of those experiences was kind of innocent and child-like. I had asked God to give me a flat tire on my Moped when I reached the place at which I was supposed to stay! (I was very open to anything at that point in my life.) Well, sure enough, after traveling all through Switzerland and Germany, I had a flat tire when I entered the little town of Eck en Wiel in the Netherlands, where a Dutch L’Abri was and where they needed a worker in their apple orchard. It was on my first day in Eck en Wiel that I met Laura, who was a few years later to become my wife! To me, that was an incredible experience and one that made me realize there were more ways of knowing and experiencing God than just understanding and believing in a particular biblical theology.

After moving to Eugene with Laura and going to Faith Center, a Foursquare Pentecostal Charismatic church, I saw there were other Believers who knew God answered prayer and could give us experiences of faith. The Holy Spirit was still alive and well and could even perform miracles. This was very exciting and ushered in a new chapter in my faith.

During the coming years, Laura and I were introduced to an Episcopal minister who taught Inner Healing Prayer. Both Laura and I were very blessed by this ministry and even began ministering in this way at our church. I surely thought “This is finally the way we are to function as Christians. This is what Christianity is all about…to see people healed of emotional trauma through prayer.”

A number of years later, learning and appreciating more about the Jewish roots of our faith, I got quite involved with this movement and even held Passover Seders at my house, explaining how Jesus was celebrating the Passover Seder when he took the bread and wine with his disciples before he was arrested and killed. (There is some differing opinion these days as to whether they had even instituted the Seder during Jesus’ day). Nonetheless, I felt this was what the Faith was all about… reconnecting with our Jewish roots, the olive tree into which we Christians have been grafted (Romans 11:17-21).

A few years later, I was introduced to the teachings of the Soul Formation Academy through readings and a number of 4-day retreats. This was an amazing time of learning to listen to God, to practice solitude, silence and contemplation in order to experience a growing unity with God. The emphasis was really quite different from the practices in the evangelical/charismatic churches I had been to and it opened the door into a greater sensitivity to God’s closeness, His love and to discernment of His will.

So what’s my point, in rambling through these stages of faith? For me at least, the point is that following Jesus is an incredibly dynamic journey! It’s not JUST about good biblical theology, not JUST about our experiences, not JUST about Inner Healing, not JUST about our Jewish roots, and not JUST about solitude, silence and contemplation. It’s about ALL of them, and probably many more things that I haven’t experienced (yet😊).

One of my favorite scriptures was written by King Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes. He writes about the turning of seasons and about the need for different responses to what life brings us through the years. I will include the Scripture here and, then, if you’re interested to hear a 1967 musical version of the scripture, put on your tie-died t-shirt and listen along to The Byrds, an American folk/rock band from the 60’s!

And above all, keep on listening to what the Lord is inviting you into during this season of your life!

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV)
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

About the Author

Think About Such Things | Ordinary Holiness

John Rice January 3, 2025

We are bombarded with all kinds of content, ideas, judgments, images and words, every single day. While we might encounter beautiful and good things, there is also pain and discouragement. But God invites us to proactively turn our heart and mind to the goodness that He is freshly creating each moment. The Salt Blog team is inviting you to join us in considering the true things, noble things, right things and pure things as we savor what God wants to share with His children.

Have you ever thought about… thinking? What do you spend most of your time thinking about? Have you noticed how your thinking makes you feel?

Driving to my home in the country from the city, do I see the hills, the sky, the forests and fields, the cows and horses? Do I really see them? Do I recognize how much the amazing gift of life is represented in all these things? Or do I just ruminate on problems to solve and things to do, with a load of wondering if I did such-and-such well or poorly, or what someone said or didn’t say to me? Do I compulsively roll around thoughts of what is happening around our country and the big, wide world, even about places I’ve never been to and will probably never go to?

Yes, these are often the thoughts that fill my head and cause me, more often than not, to feel discouraged, sad, angry, confused and a host of other feelings that basically bring me down. On my trip home, these kinds of thoughts are what fill my brain! With a mind and heart stuffed full with such thoughts and feelings, there’s not much room left for noticing the magnificence of God’s Creation all around me!

The apostle Paul apparently understood very well this tendency of human nature to get lost in negative thoughts. He writes in his letter to the Philippians (

Philippians 4:8-9
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.

Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me - put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Such powerful words! One surprising thing that Paul assumes is that we actually have some control over what we fill our heads with. We are not victims of random, negative, ruminating thoughts. How wonderful is that? We are more powerful than we think we are if we put into practice some of the ways Paul recommends us to live. And what an amazing promise: keeping our minds on the good things (that are every bit as real as the negative things, maybe even more so), will bring us into the peace of God.

One thing that’s true, but that’s so easy to miss, is the holiness all around us in our ordinary lives. Is holiness something that is only found in church or in spiritual mountaintop experiences or miracles (think: Moses’ burning bush)? Is holiness found only during the big milestones of our lives like a “salvation experience” or falling in love or childbirth or the passing of a loved one? Or can we experience holy moments while hiking, while cooking or gardening, while watching our child’s first soccer game, while riding our bike, while working at our job…while doing the dishes!

I mention dishwashing on purpose, since that was the occupation of Brother Lawrence, a 17th century French monk whose job it was to wash dishes in his monastery kitchen. He is still known and read today by his writings, put together in book form entitled Practicing the Presence of God. He would say that washing dishes can be a holy moment by doing so fully in the awareness of the presence of God who is always with us, always surrounding us. In other words, it’s not our circumstances or our environment that makes a moment holy; it’s the presence of God that makes it holy. And that can be anywhere at any time!

Brother Lawrence took the apostle Paul’s words seriously. He put into his daily practice the strength of his faith, that God walks with us every day, all day, no matter the circumstances. Certainly bad things happen in our lives and in the lives of others. We have to address these things with wisdom, perseverance and the right amount of attention. But to allow ourselves to be overcome with them threatens to throw us off our center, which is with our God who is the Center of everything.

The author Barbara Brown Taylor puts it this way:
“Earth is so thick with divine possibility that it’s a wonder we can walk anywhere without cracking our shins on altars.”

Surely there are “altars” all around us if we open our eyes and let the Holy Spirit show us the holiness in the ordinary things of our lives.

About the Author

Who is Our Rock? | Christ, the Solid Rock

John Rice October 9, 2024

The chorus of the well-known hymn begins with the lyrics: “On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.” This is the topic the City Salt Blog Team wants to explore in the coming weeks. And what a timely topic this is, given the unrest in the world and in our own country. Where do we place our ultimate trust? Where do we stand? Where do we build our house, on shifting sands or solid rock? As Jesus says in Matthew 7:24-27:

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it crashed with a great crash.”

Jesus says we are to both hear his words and put them into practice in order to have a firm foundation. But what were these words Jesus was referring to? Well, there were a lot! Starting in Matthew 5, Jesus begins his most famous Sermon on the Mount by turning the world on its head and revealing who is blessed (and by contrast, who is not.) Then he mentions many other topics:

Salt and light, the fulfillment of the law, murder, adultery, divorce, oaths, an eye for an eye, love for our enemies, giving to the needy, how to pray, how to fast, where our treasures are, do not worry, judging others, asking/seeking/knocking, the narrow and wide gates, true and false prophets, true and false disciples….and THEN he mentions the wise and foolish builders. Apparently there are a lot of words Jesus wants us to hear!

But in another Scripture passage, Jesus simplifies all this for us by responding to a teacher of the law who asked Jesus what the most important commandment was. In Mark 12:28-31, we read:

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this. ‘Hear o Israel; the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

If you look back at all those words Jesus spoke during or after the Sermon on the Mount, you can see that all these topics would be finer details stemming from the greatest commandments!

The point of all this is that if we want to build our house on a firm foundation (metaphorically speaking), we need to start by loving God, following him with all we’ve got, loving our neighbors (which means e.v.e.r.y.o.n.e. (Look at the Good Samaritan story in Luke 10:25-37) and, last but not least, loving ourselves in a good and healthy way.

In many places right now, the world is on fire. We in the USA are not immune from the dangers of fire. In fact, we have our own version ablaze in politics, culture wars, religious beliefs, racism and all the other “-isms.”

Surely, we have to decide where we stand in these areas in accordance with our beliefs and convictions. But do we place all our confidence and energies in these outcomes? With American politics as an example, is the next elected president (whoever that may be) our true Savior? Will the world come to an end if So-and-So is elected? Or will that person solve all our problems and be our deep peace that is beyond all understanding, as the Bible says? No! To be good citizens involved in our democratic system, we should do our research, weigh the options and vote. But if that is our only hope, that’s like building our house on sand. God alone is the solid rock and our firm foundation. We can be “in the world” by participating in it, as Jesus indicated when he told the Pharisees to “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” (Matthew 22:21). But we aren’t “of the world” in the sense that our home is truly with God and in his kingdom. That’s our deepest home!

This brings us back to the second half of Jesus’ admonition: putting his words into practice. In the political example mentioned above, this might mean showing respect for those who vote differently from you, no matter how strongly you disagree. How hard it is to follow Jesus’ command to love our neighbors, even more so our enemies! But if we believe him, he will make it possible and we will experience our home standing firm when the storms come.

About the Author

Living in Our Moments | Be Awake, Be Awake, Be Awake!

John Rice September 13, 2024

As I was sitting in my chiropractor’s office waiting for my appointment to begin, I noticed a poster hanging behind the receptionist’s desk which read, “There are only two days of the year which you can do nothing about.” Can you guess which two days the author of the quote was talking about? To give you a little time, I’ll put the answer at the end of this blog entry :). A hint, though, is to quote Jesus saying in Matthew 6:34, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Have you noticed how much time we spend ruminating over and over again about things we did or said in the past, or over things that happened to us or were said to us in the past? I, for one, have wasted so much time, energy and happiness going over and over things I wish I’d done differently. It’s like living in an ocean of regret, because for some reason I more clearly remember those negative things than I do the positive things. Why in the world is that the case? Maybe one reason, as illogical as it is, is that I hope by compulsively thinking about past mistakes, I can somehow fix them or change them or reword them or rationalize them…to make myself feel better. But, does that work? Not for me it doesn’t! All it does is waste the time I could be happily living in the present moment!

The opening lyrics to one of my favorite songs are “Every table is an altar, every breath is a gift from you, every moment is a treasure, every day is a kiss from you. So let our hearts be awake, be awake, be awake!” How can we be awake to the amazing gift of life that God is giving us this very moment when we are compulsively worrying about yesterday?

And the same is true for worrying about tomorrow. Surely we want to have plans and goals for the future, but if we focus all our attention there, it will cause us to be anxious, unsettled and possibly even fearful about things that haven’t even happened!

What has helped me tremendously to quit ruminating about the past or future is sitting quietly in the Lord’s presence, drawing attention only to the reality that I am in him and he is in me. This is not always easy for a professional ruminator like me, but its benefits are noticeable over time, kind of like gaining strength after consistent exercise.

Of course there may be traumatic things in our lives, particularly from our childhoods when we were extremely open and vulnerable to being hurt, that would benefit from visiting with a counselor or therapist so that we can understand where our compulsive thoughts and feelings come from. Understanding is good and helpful, but it may not be enough to set us free. The way we live today and the healthy practices we build into our lives, are hugely responsible for “rebooting” our nervous systems and allowing us to experience the beauty and wonder of being alive in this amazing world God has created.

So have you guessed what are the two days which we can do nothing about?

Yesterday and tomorrow!

About the Author

Inspiration & Revelation | The Power of Music and Poetry

John Rice May 24, 2024

As a student in high school and college, I hated poetry. I liked things to be simple and concrete, easy to understand, the nutshell/Cliff notes version of everything. I apparently didn’t have time for all those similes and metaphors and veiled references to ideas that could easily be expressed in street language! This started to change, though, when I heard some mysterious and intriguing lyrics set to music. Something about the power of music to emotionally engage me helped the actual words of the song move me too.

Now, at this later date in life, I can honestly say that I appreciate poetry and music more than ever (well, at least some of it). And when music and poetry touch on the deeper things in life like spirituality and the human condition, I genuinely appreciate it. Listening to it resonates with something deep in the core of my being…kind of like the Bible does. Reading the Psalms, which was meant to be lyrics set to music, must be why so many people love them so much.

I wanted to share two songs that are very moving to me, and for two very different reasons. The first one is called “Every Table is an Altar” written by Jason Upton. It is a contemplative song from a man deeply devoted to Jesus. The other is called “Hallelujah” written by Leonard Cohen, a man who knows the Bible well, but who isn’t sure that God really exists. His faith has lots of unanswered questions, yet in this song he relates the biblical story of David and Bathsheba to his own complicated relationship with a woman on earth. It is a man wrestling for answers, aware of his lack of understanding.

I share these lyrics and songs with huge curiosity about what you think of them. How do they make you feel? What’s happening in the video that strikes you? Do you really like one and hate the other? Does something make you mad or happy when thinking about them? If you’d ever like to discuss these things, I’d love to discuss them with you! But I’m predicting one thing to be true, no matter what…that you hear the hearts of the artists and the power of lyrics and music. God is the ultimate Creator and, in his image, he has made us creators too! And just like in the Psalms, God doesn’t insist on us being happy and worshipful all the time. He wants us to express our deepest heart with honesty. He is after all the God of Truth! And he loves us, warts and all!

“Every Table is an Altar”

Every table is an altar
Every breath is a gift from you
Every moment is a treasure
Every day is a gift from you

So let our hearts be awake, be awake
Let our heart be awake, be awake
So let our hearts be awake, be awake
Let our heart be awake, be awake

Every stranger has a story
Every story is being told by you
We're all children on a journey
Jesus only you can lead us through

So let our hearts be awake, be awake
So let our hearts be awake, be awake
Let our hearts be awake, be awake
Let our hearts be awake, be awake

Break the bread, pour the wine
Let our hearts come alive
In your presence, in your presence
Let our fear fall away
Let our faith rise today
In your presence, in your presence

We will shout your name, King of Glory
We will stand and sing, You are holy
We will pour out praise, You are worthy
Of our lives, now and forever
We will shout Your name, King of Glory
We will stand and sing, You are holy
We will pour out praise, You are worthy
Of our lives, now and forever

Let our hearts
Be awake
Be awake
Let our hearts
Be awake
Be awake
Let our hearts
Be awake
Be awake
Let our hearts
Be awake
Be awake

Here we wait on you
Here we wait on you

“Hallelujah”

Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you dont really care for music, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor falls, the major lifts
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Well people I've been here before
I know this room and I've walked this floor
You see I used to live alone before I knew ya
And I've seen your flag on the marble arch
But listen love, love is not some kind of victory march, no
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Well, maybe there's a God above
As for me all I've ever learned from love
Is how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
But it's not a crime that you're here tonight
It's not some pilgrim who claims to have seen the Light
No, it's a cold and it's a very broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

(The following verses not included in the video)

There was a time you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And I remember when I moved in you
And the holy dove she was moving too
And every single breath we drew was Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Now I've done my best, I know it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come here to London just to fool you
And even though it all went wrong
I'll stand right here before the Lord of song
With nothing, nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

About the Author

Like a Child | In Awe of God Playing Hide and Seek

John Rice March 1, 2024

“And Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of God.’” Matthew 18:3

When I think of what makes a child a child, a lot of different and sometimes very contradictory things come to mind. For example, a child can be incredibly sweet and endearing, but they can also be very selfish and mean. They can show great love and give you undivided attention, but then they can turn around, totally ignore you and act as if you don’t matter at all. They can be playful and light-hearted and then, in the flash of a second, can turn and be moody and depressive.

So what was Jesus talking about when he said that to enter the kingdom of God, we must be like a child? Does he want us to be impetuous, unpredictable and lacking in self-control as children so often are? Or could it be simpler than that? Could it have less to do with our childlike personalities and more to do with his desire simply to be in a close, loving relationship with us, like a Father or a Mother? Maybe he wants to be for us like a good, good father who we recognize as our creator, our sustainer, our strength, our wisdom-giver… the one who loves us unconditionally? Does he simply want us to be dependent on him, like a little child is toward their good father or mother? I’m thinking this might be closer to the mark of what God is looking for.

Children generally love to play games, and an all-time favorite is Hide and Seek. It seems like sometimes God plays this game with us, his children. At times he seems to hide from us and other times he seeks us out. It seems we also try to hide from him at times and then at other times we seek him out.

Even as adults we are invited in the same way to look for God and to find him in sometimes the most unusual circumstances of our lives. Here are three examples, two that happened to two friends of mine and one that just recently happened to me.

Our friend, Betsy, lost her teenage son to a motorcycle accident. Wracked with grief, she held fast to the Lord but struggled with depression and a sense of hopelessness. After her son’s funeral she took home the flowers that had been displayed at the Memorial Service. One was a kind of lily that usually only blooms in the Spring. But exactly on her son’ birthday in the Fall, the lily bloomed with one large, beautiful flower. And then, after that flower had faded away, the plant did not blossom again until exactly Easter morning and this time it had three beautiful flowers. Both of these bloomings held great symbolic meaning for Betsy, who received them as a message from God that she was loved, her grief was seen and that her son was safe now and with his Heavenly Father.

I have another friend who lost his wife about three years ago. In deep grief, he went about his days doing what he needed to do with work and with others in his family, but he missed his wife terribly. One day while walking downtown with his head lowered, he noticed a dime on the sidewalk. Without thinking much about it, he leaned down and picked it up. The next day he was walking again in another part of town and, looking down, saw another dime on the sidewalk! This was interesting. It was not a penny, a nickel or a quarter, but a dime. The next day the same thing happened…and this continued to happen daily for weeks. When he was telling me about this, he was absolutely convinced that these daily dimes were secret little messages from God, saying, “I see you. I love you. You’re going to be ok. Your wife is here with me and doing well” and expressing other sentiments like this. This was a grown, middle-aged, intelligent man with a successful business who was convinced that God was spreading dimes out for him to find across the city! To me this sounds like a childlike faith in a game of “God’s Hide and Seek”.

My story is a little bit similar. This last Thanksgiving, I realized I was heading down into a funk that happens often during the winter holidays. I know it was in large part due to missing my wife, but it had also been a seasonal occurrence for many years, even before I was married. I had a wonderful holiday with my kids and grandkids, but this funk was simmering in the depths of my soul. One day when I was feeling especially discouraged, I glanced at the clock and it read 1:11. I thought nothing of it. Later that day I glanced at the clock and it read 5:55.

The next day I looked up to find 3:33. Sometime the next day I saw 4:44. I went to bed early and woke up to see 11:11. The next day I thought I’d check my email and the phone opened to show me it was 2:22. This went on till after the New Year and it actually is still happening from time to time now.

I absolutely know how crazy this might seem to people, especially non-believers, but I was convinced after the third or fourth occurrence that God was shooting me a quick little reminder that he was with me, that things would get better and be ok, that my wife was with him and doing well. So every time I see the clock show a time like that, I just smile and say “Thank you, Lord!”

Just like a little child.

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Who Does God Say I Am? | A Thermometer or a Thermostat?

John Rice January 19, 2024

I’m willing to bet this could be among the strangest analogies you’ve ever heard with regard to what God has made us to be! It was so to me when I first saw it in a short reading from Brian McLaren of the Center for Action and Contemplation. But the more I thought about it, the more I appreciated the thought that Mr. McLaren was trying to convey. I’d like to do my best to break it down here in this blog entry.

There are so many scriptures where God speaks the most amazing, positive, loving things about us. If you are ever stuck in a compulsive thought cycle dwelling on your broken sinfulness, please do yourself a favor and do a scripture study of what God actually says about us. You might be surprised at how many ways God reveals his loving attitude toward us. You’ll find a lot of these scriptures in our current (and past) CitySalt blog entries. But to get to the topic of thermometers and thermostats, I’d start with Ephesians 2:10…

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

To say we are God’s handiwork indicates that we are a creation in process, being formed, shaped and developed into someone he can use to carry out his purposes and plans on this earth. Nothing is static about God’s creation. Just look at the seasons, the movement of the solar system, the life cycle of plants, animals and humans. What are we to do with all this dynamic motion in our lives? How are we to respond to all the moving parts? Just looking at the current events in our world today, there is so much motion - but motion of the wrong kind. So much turmoil, so much destruction, so much hatred, so much fear, so much sorrow. It can be so overwhelming!

Well, here is where the thermometer analogy comes in. A thermometer simply reads the temperature in the room. It mirrors it. It absorbs it. It reflects it. In other words, it’s a pretty passive instrument. But what does a thermostat do? A thermostat can change the temperature in a room. It can adjust what’s happening around it. If you think of it in human terms, we have the power, supplied by God’s Holy Spirit, to de-escalate the tensions around us, to affect change in the negative environments, either in us or in those around us. We can be peacemakers. We can show love instead of fear and hatred. We can speak the truth in love, seasoned with grace… in a world whose natural tendency is to blame, take sides and fight.

There are certainly some ways we could get involved in problem-solving some of the large, global problems happening today. But we most definitely do have some influence in our daily lives at home, in our relationships, at work, in our neighborhood. It’s a powerful, godly thing to have compassion, to care. But if we leave it there, it’s a bit like a thermometer. If, however, we speak into it, if we show love rather than fear or hatred to someone, if we console someone or give to someone in need, as God directs us, then we are more like a thermostat…doing the good works God has prepared beforehand for us to do.

One of my favorite songs speaking to this subject is “Surely We Can Change” by the David Crowder Band. It goes like this:

And the problem is this
We were bought with a kiss
But the cheek still turned
Even when it wasn't hit
And I don't know
What to do with a love like that
And I don't know
How to be a love like that
When all the love in the world
Is right here among us
And hatred too
And so we must choose
What our hands will do

Where there is pain
Let there be grace
Where there is suffering
Bring serenity
For those afraid
Help them be brave
Where there is misery
Bring expectancy
And surely we can change
Surely we can change
Something
And the problem it seems
Is with you and me
Not the Love who came
To repair everything

And I don't know
What to do with a love like that
And I don't know
How to be a love like that
When all the love in the world
Is right here among us
And hatred too
And so we must choose
What our hands will do

Where there is pain
Let us bring grace
Where there is suffering
Bring serenity
For those afraid
Let us be brave
Where there is misery
Let us bring them relief
And surely we can change
Surely we can change
Oh surely we can change
Something
Oh, the world's about to change
The whole world's about to change

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In the Midst of Chaos | Light in the Darkness

John Rice December 1, 2023

I’ll bet if you stop and think about your life, you’d be able to identify at least a few times which could be labeled “chaotic”. I know for some people, the idea of a “few times'' would be grossly understated! I, myself, am a person who highly values stability and predictability and can get overwhelmed pretty quickly when things are out of whack. All my stress hormones activate when something happens as simple as my tractor not starting (which actually happened this week). “What am I going to do! I don’t have time for this! There’s so much I need this tractor for. I have mountains of leaves to take care of before they kill all the grass and the whole yard is a muddy mess! It’ll probably take forever to fix and be expensive too. How can I even get this thing to a repair shop? Why didn’t I learn more about engine repair? Aaargghh!!” On and on it goes...and this is all about a simple blip on the radar of life. Imagine what happens with a major one!

It seems people have been dealing with chaos since the beginning of time. And I seriously mean since the beginning of time. Looking back at the first chapter of Genesis in the Bible, we can already see a situation described as chaotic in Genesis 1:2

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

According to the Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon, the words “without form” and “void” are translations of the Hebrew words tohu and bohu. Tohu and bohu are often paired together in the Old Testament and portray a “place of chaos, formlessness, emptiness, a wasteland.”

The universe itself was described as chaotic before the Lord took action and brought some order to it. It’s interesting to think of the Holy Spirit hovering over it all, going to and fro, as if taking time to develop the best plan for establishing and developing the planet Earth and the whole universe beyond. What strikes me most is what the Lord does as the very first step: He turns the light on!! How wonderful is that? Think about it…when things are chaotic around you, one of the first things you need is some clarity to see what’s going on. Clarity may not be the total solution to bring order out of chaos, but it certainly is a major necessity if we want to best understand the situation we’re in, so that we can take a step to bring whatever order is in our power to do so.

After God turns the light on, the most amazing universe begins to take shape. The Creation is so awesome as it unfolds, that we can easily forget it all began with light to see with. This theme of light shining in the darkness continues throughout the Bible as a symbol of clarity, wisdom and understanding, safety and goodness. There are far too many scriptures about light to mention here, but here are a few of them:

Exodus 13 God gave a pillar of fire to give light at night for the escaping Israelite slaves.

Psalm 4:6 Let the light of your face shine upon us!

Psalm 27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation.

Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light for my path.

Isaiah 2:5 Let us walk in the light of the Lord!

Isaiah 60:19 The Lord will be your everlasting light.

The highlight of all the passages about light is that Jesus Christ himself is called the Light of the World!

John 1:4 In Him was life and that life was the light of the world.

What do we need to move from chaos to peace? We need clarity, understanding and wisdom… we need Jesus!! Even in the smallest things (like my tractor that wouldn’t work), it helps to start with turning on the light with a prayer to the one who knows all things. Quite literally I asked the Lord in my frustration what I could do to resolve my tractor situation. Sitting with that a while and running through a bunch of options that kept hitting dead ends, the thought came to me that maybe there was a mobile repairman who could come help me out. I googled “mobile small engine repair” and found a couple. I contacted one who immediately came out from Veneta on his Harley and who got my tractor running in less than 30 minutes! And not only was that a huge burden off my shoulders, but now I knew someone who could help in the future if I need him (and I surely will). In faith, I believe Jesus gave me the idea of a mobile repairman.

I know it may seem a little silly to apply the concept of light in the darkness, clarity out of chaos, to fixing a tractor that had gone kaput, but to me it confirms the notion that there is nothing too small or insignificant for Jesus to help us with. And at the same time, imagine how he can help with the major disruptions of our lives! We’ll certainly have both big and small moments of chaos throughout our lives. How reassuring to have a connection to the Light Himself as we make our way through to the other side.

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Joyous Lament | A Look into Joyous Lamenting

John Rice September 22, 2023

It seems to me we humans are practically geniuses when it comes to avoiding pain, sorrow or suffering. Some of us seek out drugs, alcohol, food or sex to avoid our pain and then run the risk of becoming addicted to our “drug of choice”.

But there are so many other, more subtle ways of avoiding pain that may go more easily unnoticed, until something in our lives breaks down and brings it all to our attention or to the attention of our friends and family. One of these things might be working to the point of neglecting everything else, a condition known as “workaholism”. One way might be buying things, a condition we could call “shopping therapy”. Another might be sports and games which we move toward whenever we have free time. And one very common way we try to avoid pain is by denying it altogether! This may be the most subtle of all our tactics. It’s a bit of a mental game we play which can pose as a very spiritual practice.

We Christians are especially good at this one. When we are hurting, we’ve learned to say “Oh, it’s nothing. I’m fine.” Quickly turning from the suffering or pain, we jump ahead to the declarations, “God is good! I have faith! I’m not really sick or hurt or grieving or lonely or angry, etc.”

It seems to me that while we certainly do want to claim God’s power to heal, His goodness and our faith in Him, we would do well to first acknowledge the truth of the matter and submit to what our bodies and souls are trying to tell us! My wife used to say, “Our bodies never lie.” I think she was so right about that. What is that tightness around our shoulders really about? What is that gnawing sensation in our stomachs really trying to tell us? Why am I sweating when it’s not hot out? Why do I look the other way when I see a troubling scene? The answer is not always obvious and sometimes we might not get an answer until after the fact, but at the very least we can tell God about it!

This is where some of God’s people can help us. The people who wrote the Psalms understood very well the importance of being honest with God. They understood that God was OK with our honesty. Didn’t Jesus say, “The truth will set us free?” I think one of my favorite examples of honesty in the Bible is from the writer of Lamentations 3:19-24:

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them and my soul is downcast within me.

Only then does the writer say:

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.”

This is such a good example to me of the importance of being open and honest with God, while still remembering His goodness, love, faithfulness and power to work in our lives. And the result of this is a kind of deep joy and peace. This is why we can call our troubles “joyous lamenting”.

One practice I’ve been taught for helping me not avoid my negative feelings is called the Welcoming Prayer. It’s simply that when we recognize fear, hurt, grief, anger or any hard or negative feeling, we don’t push it out of our consciousness and seek some kind of salve to dull it. Instead, we acknowledge it and then say “Welcome, grief! Welcome, anger! Welcome, hurt!” We welcome it into our deepest soul, where then God can deal with it and show us how best to deal with it.

I know this Welcoming Prayer sounds a bit crazy:), but try it! You may just find yourself experiencing the healthy joy of the Lord sooner than you would have thought. The power of the negative feeling is overwhelmed and diminished, but not denied, knowing that God is actively involved… and He knows best how to work in any situation. This opens wide the door for “joyous lament”!

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The Joy of Being Human | A Holy Human Triangle

John Rice August 4, 2023

An older, wiser man once told me that for a human to be healthy, happy and whole, he or she needed to exercise a triangle of work, rest and play. Interestingly, as I reflected on my personality and habits at the time, I was pretty decent at work, so-so at rest and terrible at play! I was told more than once during those days that I was a serious soul that needed to lighten up!

Looking back at the wise man’s words, I really appreciate the emphasis that he put on the balance of work, rest and play. Too much of one or two of those made for a wobbly life that could very easily lead to some kind of breakdown. Believe it or not, trying to introduce more play into my life was a bit awkward and intimidating. It was like a foreign concept. I still avoid board games like the plague (very weird, I know). I think it’s because I feel caught, just sitting there doing nothing productive. But I did learn to develop some other, more physical activities of play like swimming, paddle boarding, tennis, cycling. Sometimes I can even enjoy playing cards, chess or backgammon. What a breakthrough!

I wonder if Jesus lived a life with this healthy triangle. Certainly we know he worked. Think of all that teaching, healing, and casting out of demons. He seemed to know how to rest by going out “backpacking” on mountains alone to be with God. But did he play? There are not too many examples of him playing that I can think of, but we can surmise from his love and inclusion of children, that he knew how to play. I have also seen some movie interpretations of his life where he is occasionally very playful with his mother and friends. I can imagine those interpretations hit close to home! His interactions with the more legalistic Pharisees have the background message, “Lighten up! Enjoy being human! Laws were made for the benefit of mankind, not simply to trap him into rules, duties and obligations which often lead to either pride (for being good at them) or guilt (for being bad at them).”

Jesus went to weddings. He went to dinner parties. He appreciated and commented on the beauty of nature, of the goodness of Creation. I can imagine he was a person we would really enjoy hanging out with. He is our friend after all. If he noticed us getting too “religious,” he might even encourage us to “lighten up” and enjoy life a bit more!

The prophet Nehemiah wrote, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to the Lord. Do not grieve, for the JOY of the Lord is our strength!” Nehemiah 8:10

Do you work? Do you rest? Do you play? Do you need to “lighten up?” Is there a balance of these things in your life? Maybe you can think of other things that are helpful to live a healthy, happy and whole life! It seems so easy to focus on the negative things of life, the suffering, the hurt, the injustice. How might our lives be different if we focused on the joy of being human, the appreciation of this amazing planet we live on, loved by God and by other people…with opportunities to love them back!

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In His Image | Who are We? The Roots of Our Identity

John Rice May 19, 2023

I remember a number of years ago when I left my habitual morning quiet time earlier than usual because I had so much to do that day. I walked up to the tractor port to get on the tractor and start some major mowing I needed to get done. I felt bad, and a little guilty, for ditching God so fast…and for something so mundane as mowing! You see, some years prior to that morning I had learned how important it was to spend time with God first thing in the morning. I felt bad about my priorities and also that, having messed up that morning, I would now have to wait until the next morning to do better.

While mowing I suddenly had a revelation! Just because I left my quiet time didn’t mean I had left God or that He had left me. He was with me every bit as much on the tractor as he was with me in the quiet little office chair. Now I know what you’re thinking: that is the most obvious thing you’ve ever heard. And it seems that way to me nowadays too. But I became aware how compartmentalized I was with my spiritual life. God was only present when I asked Him to be present and when I was doing something “religious,” like sitting in a chair with my Bible open? Whaaat? God is THAT stingy with His presence?

Then the words of Michael W. Smith’s song came to mind, “This is the air I breathe, this is the air I breathe, Your holy presence living in me.” Those thoughts took me to Genesis 2:7, “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” So if God breathed life into all mankind, and, last I checked, I was still breathing, He must be continuously breathing His life into me, and that would mean anywhere and everywhere I found myself, He is with me! This opened up a whole new freedom for me. This helped break down the compartmentalization I had lived with all my Christian life.

We read in Deuteronomy 31:8 that God told Moses, “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

And then in 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst” – midst meaning in your heart, in your lungs, in your belly, in your gut, in your head, in your feet…in short, all over inside us! We are completely filled with our amazing God.

Doesn’t that make you wonder about us, about our identity? Who are we then? Well, we all know we are not perfect and we are not all-powerful; we didn’t call the Creation into being (If you don’t know this, we might suggest a good psychiatrist for you.) But even in our imperfection and our finite abilities, to know that the Lord God has given us life and breath and lives with us always, must say to us that we are incredibly blessed by the One (who CAN do all things) choosing to live within us, filling us up with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).

In Genesis 1:27 and 31, it reads “God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female He created them …God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.”

Certainly we all mess up and sin, and we need to look into submitting our unwise behaviors and thoughts to God so they can be transformed into the good things He intended, but how about starting from the awareness of our deepest self, our roots, which are very good and made in God’s image? With that perspective, sin loses its place as our primary concern. Our primary concerns then can be praising this amazingly gracious God who loves us so much as to fill us up with Him!

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Trusting Our Mysterious God | Mysterious God, Mysterious Bible

John Rice March 10, 2023

I’m guessing it doesn’t come as much of a surprise to you when I say that there is a lot of mystery surrounding God. If God is truly God, the one who created the entire universe, then He is hugely bigger, wiser, stronger, more creative and more capable than we are or could ever be. Am I right about that? How could we possibly understand everything about Him: how He thinks, how He creates, what He plans, why He does what He does, how He breathes life into His creation? There are so many mysteries… and yet, in an amazing act of love toward us, He has given us at least SOME idea of who He is. He does this in three ways: the Bible, our experience of Him and what other believers throughout the ages share about their experiences with Him. With these three things, some common themes come to the surface and give us a bit of clarity about this great God of ours.

The question is often asked: if the Bible is the inspired word of God, why is the Old Testament so different from the New Testament? In some ways they seem to present a different God altogether. In the Old Testament books like Joshua and Judges, God can be seen as a punishing, vindictive, even blood-thirsty warrior and judge intent on wiping out pagan unbelievers. Sometimes not just the warriors of those nations, but even the women, children and animals. How could this be the same God that Jesus presents in the New Testament as the God of love who would ask us to even love our enemies? To turn and give the other cheek to one who slaps us? To be a peacemaker who will inherit the kingdom of God?

How about this possible explanation of why the two written Testaments of the Bible seem to present such different descriptions of God: Could it be that we have an over-zealous understanding of what it means that the Bible is “inspired by God?” What is inspiration and what does it mean when applied to the writing of the Bible? It is clearly stated in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Since the New Testament hadn’t even been written at the time Paul is writing this letter to Timothy, he must be referring to the Old Testament. Aiyaiyai! Does this mean God really is the punishing, killing Warrior God?

But wait. Jesus spent much of his teaching time in correcting, or reinterpreting what was said in the Old Testament. Remember in Matthew 5 when he says multiple times “You have heard it said, but I say…” It’s not just “do not murder,” it’s “do not even be angry with a brother or sister.” It’s not just “do not commit adultery,” it’s “do not even look with lust on a woman.” It’s not “an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth,” it’s “do not resist an evil person. Turn to him the other cheek.” And it’s not just “love your neighbor and hate your enemy,” it’s “Love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you.”

Is Jesus saying that the Old Testament was not inspired? Or might he have been saying to read the inspired Old Testament like stories with a deeper, symbolic meaning, not necessarily a literal one. Maybe he was saying not to take all Scripture at face value, but rather as parables like he used a lot in his teaching. Remember how his disciples would get confused because Jesus taught in parables so often? Did he like to use parables because God truly IS so mysterious, and literal words don’t help us understand Him as much as pictures in our souls do and/or the inner witness of the Holy Spirit’s presence?

We humans are interpreting all the time. We can’t help it. It’s how we make sense of what we’re seeing, hearing, and experiencing. It’s not surprising that the writers of the Old Testament were writing what they understood. They were experiencing God in the middle of a culture of warfare, a time of kill or be killed. They were living in a time when child sacrifice was rampant in their part of the world. They knew they were set apart by a different kind of God, a good God, a powerful God. They knew they were special. They told their stories about God around their campfires as they moved around the deserts, mountains and valleys of the Middle East. They interpreted what happened to them as best they knew how from their worldview. And then eventually these stories were written down for us to read… thousands of years later in a very different culture!

What this shows us is that the people in Jesus’ time and before him had the propensity for misinterpreting the Scripture, just as all of us do. They were often missing the point. Sometimes we miss the point. So what is the point?

I believe it is summed up beautifully and succinctly in 1 John 4:16 “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” And in John 15:12 “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” And in John 15:14 “You are my friends if you do what I command.”

Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. I’d put all my money on following HIS interpretation of Scripture and of the corresponding witness of the Holy Spirit that promises to lead us into all Truth. May my interpretation of Scripture, Old and New, always be submitted before these deep truths: God is Love! God loves me! God loves you! And God loves all that He has created!

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Fruits of the Spirit | Joy

John Rice January 13, 2023

One of the most wonderfully surprising scriptures I’ve come across is this one in the book of Nehemiah:

Nehemiah 8:9-12
Nehemiah, the governor, and Ezra, the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is sacred to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.

Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

The Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, for this is a sacred day. Do not grieve.”

Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because now they understood the words that had been made known to them.

Were you a little surprised by something too? For a little context, many of the Israelites, especially the wealthy, the educated and those skilled in the trades, were taken as slaves to Babylon in 586 BCE. The “less useful” people were left in Judea where Jerusalem lay. Life was extremely harsh for the Judeans under the Babylonians (You might remember the story of Daniel and the lion’s den and fiery furnace).

Over time, Babylonia was conquered by the Persians, who treated the Israelite captives much better than the Babylonians had. The king of the Persians, Artaxerxes, even allowed the Jews who wanted to return to the the land of their ancestors, to do so. The governor of the region of Judea was Nehemiah. The priest during this time was Ezra. Nehemiah learns that the walls of Jerusalem were crumbling and, after much prayer, asked King Artaxerxes if he could go back and rebuild the walls. Amazingly, Artaxerxes agreed! The walls were rebuilt with a lot of resistance from the neighboring Samaritans who hated and feared the Jews. But the Jews succeeded and the city was safe to live in again, or at least safer. To celebrate this great moment, all the Jews gathered in one place and the priest Ezra read from the Bible in the presence of all the people. They began crying with tears of sorrow and shame, understanding that they had been taken away captive as a consequence of their ignoring and disobeying their God.

Wallowing in this sense of remorse and guilt, you might have expected the priest and the governor to have exacted some punishments or acts of contrition from the people: possibly fasting from food, wearing burlap and/or pouring ashes over their heads, as was the custom. But what did the leaders instruct the people to do? Go eat, go drink, be joyful…and be sure to share with those who don’t have anything! And to top it off, they taught the people that the joy of the Lord is their strength!

It seems to me we can learn so much about our God from this story. How often do we sink into guilt and shame because of our wrongdoing? We might even feel it is the right thing to do, if we are to be humble people. But the wisdom from this story reminds us that sinking into an introspective funk is not helpful to us or to those around us. Instead, this wisdom seems to say, “Yes, you’ve done wrong. Yes, you need to change your ways. But turn to the Lord who is ever-forgiving and ever-loving and demonstrate your love back to him by rejoicing in his goodness and looking how to serve other people who don’t have as much as you do.” Wow! How awesome that is, and “just like God” to focus on the good and to see how we might help others. God seems truly committed to getting us out of our heads and egos, and into the goodness of the universe around us.

Have you ever experienced that when you’re suffering from shame, you feel weakened? Conflicted? Self-conscious? Lacking in clarity and confidence? I sure have. So I’m thankful to be reminded that it’s the JOY of the Lord that gives us strength. I’m thankful for the advice to confess my sin honestly, but then to get up, stand up, celebrate God’s goodness and live life alongside other folks whom he loves so much. Not to mention…..eat some good food and drink some good drinks! Thank you, Lord!

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Truth in Love | Responding in Truth and Love

John Rice November 4, 2022

Whoever said that being a Christian made life easier?! I’m not sure what “Christian life” they’re talking about, but it’s been my experience that walking with Jesus and seeking to follow His teachings has been anything but easy! It has certainly been better… just not easier. One example of this is trying to follow Paul’s exhortation to speak the truth in love. It seems so often that I can either speak the truth without the right spirit of love and respect for the other person, or I can act “lovingly” but hide the truth.

While I recognize these kinds of difficult commands can best be accomplished by the overflow of God’s love in us and through us, I have also found a few helpful tips along the way through the teachings of good counselors, who have learned to work with people to help resolve their relationship difficulties. I’d like to offer one of those tips here. It’s known as the “STOP Process” and was introduced to me by Carolyn Rexius, the founding director of CAFA (Christians As Family Advocates).

How the “STOP Process” might help us in speaking the truth in love is that it trains us to thoughtfully respond rather than hastily react to someone who rubs us the wrong way. Here’s how it works: when we experience the brunt of someone’s anger, criticism, or otherwise negative attitude, we learn to slow down and examine the situation before reacting with defensiveness or a counter-attack. When our emotions are triggered and we are tempted to react quickly, if we follow these few steps we may well be able to respond out of love and respect.

The “S” literally stands for “STOP”. Take some time before reacting or saying anything. Picture a STOP sign in your mind. Take 10 deep breaths and ask yourself a question or two. This brings the situation out of your fight or flight brain and into your thinking brain. The two don’t work well together!

The “T” stands for “Take Time to Identify Your Feelings.” Why is it that you’re reacting with such strong emotion to what was said or done? Be honest.

The “O” stands for “Opt to Give Yourself and the Other Person the Benefit of the Doubt.” What might the other person have been going through that has them stressed or angry before they even encountered you? What are you going through? Realize you also might be especially tired, hungry or stressed from other aspects of your life that make this current situation seem worse than it is.

The “P” stands for “Process the Event from a Place of Self-value, with Openness, Curiosity, Humility and Compassion.” After all this thinking brain work (which is also the part of the brain where our compassion and spirituality resides), we are much more likely to let go of our defensiveness and be able to respond to the other person from a place of reason and thoughtfulness, which has the effect of de-escalating the rough emotions all around.

As I’ve mentioned, this is not necessarily an easy process, but it does become easier and more automatic over time and with practice. The Lord always helps us when we attempt to follow his ways. There are numerous scriptures we can turn to as well:

Proverbs 4:23
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

Romans 12:2
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Proverbs 23:7
For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.

Galatians 5:22
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

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Ephesians 4 | Grieving the Holy Spirit

John Rice August 12, 2022

Ephesians 4:30 NKJV
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

The idea that God is Three-in-One and One-in-Three will most likely always be a mystery to me …and I’m guessing to many other people as well. It’s a little helpful when I consider how much bigger God is than we humans are and, because of that, He doesn’t easily fit into the logical boxes we construct to try and understand things. To be honest, I’m glad I can’t completely understand God! If I could, I’m not sure He would be such a big God. And even though I know He is much more than a Father, Son and Holy Spirit, these familiar names are helpful to me to get some kind of idea of what He’s like.

Toward the end of Ephesians 4, which speaks mostly about keeping unity in the Body of Christ, Paul makes an interesting command. He says, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.”

What? The Holy Spirit of God can grieve? How is that possible? And we have the power to grieve the Holy Spirit? Oh no! That sounds like something we should really look into. Surely no one really sets out to grieve the Holy Spirit. But if we can, then apparently sometimes we do, and if that is true, then what does it mean, how do we do it and how can we not do it?

Before looking into this, there are a couple of other commands in the Bible that seem related to how we can affect the Spirit of God: do not quench the Holy Spirit (1Thessalonians 5:19) and do not blaspheme the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:29). So we can grieve, quench and blaspheme the Holy Spirit. I think these are topics we would do well to look into.

To grieve someone means to cause them sorrow. An online definition of the word I found on helpguide.org states, “Grieving is the natural response to loss.” If the Holy Spirit is responding to a loss of some kind, what kind of loss is it? I’m thinking it’s most likely a loss of closeness to us or a rift between us in some way. Could it be that the Holy Spirit loves nothing more than to be close and connected to us? God expresses His love for his creation when He says in Genesis 2, He created light and it was good; He created the earth and all its natural movements and He called it good; He created light and oceans and animals and humans; and He called them all very good. God is love and He loves all His creation.

Throughout the Old and New Testaments we see God’s love at work in various ways: He provides for us, He liberates us, He teaches us, He guides us and He warns us of dangers to us and to those around us. It’s no wonder He is often represented as the good father (though He could also be, and sometimes is, represented as the good mother.) So if God loves us so much, it would make sense that He would grieve over anything that would disrupt our relationship with Him.

In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he mentions some of the things that can grieve God’s Spirit: being ignorant of God and having a hard heart, being greedy, impure in thought and deed, lying, allowing our anger to go unchecked, stealing, speaking ungraciously, holding bitterness, squabbling or fighting, slandering, and acting maliciously in any way.

And why does God hate these things? Because in practicing these things we disrupt our relationships with other people…the very people He loves! And in doing so, we injure our own souls as well. This is the opposite of what the Spirit wants for us. So He grieves. But He doesn’t just say to not do these things. He also shows us the ways that please Him: speak the truth in love, build up one another, grow in Jesus, be renewed in your mind, be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another. Be imitators of God, live in love. This is our new self, mirroring God’s love back to Him, as well as to others and to ourselves.

I mentioned that the Bible also notes that we can quench the Holy Spirit. In 1Thessalonians 5:14-22, Paul admonishes us to encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak and be patient. He says not to repay evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. He exhorts us to rejoice always, to pray without ceasing and to give thanks in all circumstances. Hold fast to what is good. Do not quench the Holy Spirit.

The ideas of quenching and grieving are really very similar, but they offer different images: grieving is to cause sorrow to someone; quenching is a word used when talking about putting out a fire. The Bible often refers to the Holy Spirit as fire. Remember the “tongues of fire” appearing over the disciples at Pentecost in Acts 2? Or the burning bush that spoke to Moses in the desert in Exodus 3? The Spirit is like a fire in our souls, giving us warmth and energy that never burns out. Apparently Paul is wanting to say that, although we can never diminish the Holy Spirit Himself, we can certainly diminish the fire within our souls by making ourselves insensitive to the grace and power of the Spirit that is within us.

It seems to me, the most serious of all admonitions in the Bible is Jesus warning that “anyone who speaks a word against (blasphemes) the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, in this age or in the age to come.” (Matthew 12:32) What can this mean? How very sobering! Commentators have said that the difference between “blaspheming” as mentioned by Jesus in Matthew and “grieving or quenching” as mentioned by Paul, is that Jesus is referring to someone who forever and ever despises the Spirit of God, despises all things good, and set their hearts to do evil constantly. Grieving and quenching are simply the results of our ignorance or weak humanity, but with someone whose true desire is to follow God and be like God, in other words, a person directed by love.

God is love. His love never fails. We are the ones who can distance ourselves from Him and His love by our thoughts, attitudes and behaviors. Thankfully, knowledge of this reality is mentioned in the Bible all the way through by the Prophets, in the Psalms and Proverbs, by the Apostles and by Jesus Himself. Love gives wisdom and knowledge. Love warns. Love forgives when we mess up “seventy times seven times.” And Love gives us the power and strength to live a life that builds up, instead of diminishes, our relationship with our good God. Thank you, Jesus!

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Unity | Invitation to Community

John Rice April 22, 2022

There are a lot of lonely people in the world. And I’m not just talking about the intense loneliness many people experienced during the recent time of Pandemic shut-down and isolation. I’m talking about the existential loneliness experienced by many of us every day – by not feeling connected, not being understood, not being accepted, not being loved. Loneliness is a powerfully devastating state which can lead to insecurity, fear, anxiety, stress, depression, antisocial behavior and a host of physical, mental and emotional illnesses. Studies show that many youths join dangerous street gangs simply because they are lonely and are offered a community to belong to. Spiritually speaking, loneliness can pervert a person’s view of God and rob their lives of any meaning.

You may remember one of the Beatles’ songs, “Eleanor Rigby”. The lyrics go like this:

Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Eleanor Rigby
Picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window
Wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

Father McKenzie
Writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear
No one comes near
Look at him working
Darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there
What does he care?

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people

Eleanor Rigby
Died in the church and was buried along with her name
Nobody came
Father McKenzie
Wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved

All the lonely people (ah, look at all the lonely people)
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people (ah, look at all the lonely people)
Where do they all belong?

Sorry for the depressing song! But I think it paints a good picture of a world full of lonely people.

I recently returned from a CitySalt Staff Retreat where we spent a good portion of our weekend just sharing our life stories with one another. That proved to be a rich time, and even though we didn’t get as much practical work done as was planned on the agenda, it seemed somehow more important. We came away more like a team, more like a community, rather than just a group of individuals with ideas.

One thing shared during the retreat really caught my attention. Talking about the Church at large and the way Christian culture has developed over the centuries, it was mentioned that often a person must first Believe (all the right things), then secondly Become (more like the predominant Christian culture around them), and finally then they are allowed to Belong (to the community).

It was pointed out that this is exactly backwards!

If a person is first invited to Belong (just because Christ loves them), then they will start to Become more like Jesus (as God’s love and the Holy Spirit work in their lives) and then Belief will more likely flow naturally, as the person experiences the goodness and love of the Lord through the community.

Isn’t that a fantastic way to look at it!

And what is then our charge as individuals and as a church? Practicing hospitality and extending invitations of belonging to our community, are sacred practices. Think of how Jesus invited everyone he met to come to him, spend time with him, follow him: lepers, prostitutes, tax-collectors, and those demon-possessed were included. He even invited the most resistant class of all, the Pharisees who opposed him and were trying to destroy him (think Nicodemus in John 3).

John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus is inclusive, not exclusive.

Hebrews 13:2
Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

One of the most poignant instances of Jesus’ invitation to belong is found in John 14:1-3. Speaking to his followers, he says:

My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

What an invitation! How personal and relational this is! Can you sense the emotion, the love, that Jesus is expressing with these words?

We all have a fundamental need to belong to a family, a group, a community. Loneliness and isolation are not healthy places to live. If we can do anything at all to help those suffering in that way, even as small an act as giving them a drink when they’re thirsty, Jesus says we are “giving a drink of water” to Jesus himself! He identifies that closely with the suffering of the lonely and the outcast! (See Matthew 25:35-40.)

It seems to me that we can best follow Jesus’ call to love our neighbor by hearing our neighbor’s story, respecting their story, and wherever they may be on life’s path, inviting them into our fellowship to whatever degree is possible. That alone just might be enough to awaken a hunger and thirst for more, a hunger and thirst for Him who truly can satisfy our longing for connection and our need for belonging.

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Rhema | Listening for the Living Word

John Rice December 31, 2021

In our current blog series, all of the blog writers are looking at the concept of “rhema,” a Greek word meaning “the living word of God.” I really like the definition given by the pastor and author, Bill Hamon. He states "A rhema is an inspired Word birthed within your own spirit, a whisper from the Holy Spirit like the still, small voice that spoke to Elijah in the cave. It is a divinely inspired impression upon your soul, a flash of thought or a creative idea from God. It is conceived in your spirit, but birthed into your natural understanding by divine illumination. A true rhema carries with it a deep inner assurance and witness of the Spirit."[1]

I was privileged to experience the “living word” of God as a fairly young follower of Jesus. At that time I was an extreme loner, going days without speaking to anyone, a “rock and an island” as the old Simon and Garfunkel song went. But meeting Jesus was a genuine life-changer for me . I wanted to know Him better and better, so I spent a good bit of time reading the Bible. One day I was reading Matthew 22:36-40:

Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

To my great surprise, when I read the last verse, it was as if a neon light was flashing to get my attention (figuratively, not literally, I’d better add). But at the same time, a thought came into my head like a voice from outside, asking me “How can you love your neighbor if you are never with him?”

This was not a thought I generated. I was happy to love my neighbor (as if I really had a clue what that entailed) from the solitude of my own little quiet world. This voiced question was challenging me to join the human race, to start moving within the circles of other people, to establish relationships. I was not to be a “rock and an island” anymore. That’s the message I got that day. Though it was encouraging me out of my comfort zone, it rang true, like a witness in my spirit of THE Spirit. I believe it was God and the very fact that He would communicate something to me was truly awesome. I knew He cared, like a good Father.

Over the years I have had a few more of these experiences, but what I’d like to share now is that I’ve learned a way to encourage God’s living word to us. It’s called “Lectio divina” which is Latin for “sacred reading.” The Latin name reflects how old this type of Scriptural reading is (from the 6th century), but it continues today to be a blessing in our personal relationships with God. A short description of the practice speaks of taking just a few verses of the Bible, reading them several times very slowly, while asking God to show you what He’d like you to see. When you’ve settled on a word, phrase or concept, you meditate on it, thinking of everything you can that is related to it. Then you speak to God about it. You listen for Him, you share your thoughts, you listen, you pray, back and forth like a real conversation. It’s often at this point where you understand why you were supposed to stop and focus on this particular verse and what, if anything, you are to do about it. Then finally, you just sit quietly in the Presence of God for a bit, like you would in the presence of a good friend, where nothing is required, nothing is judged, just enjoying each other’s company.

To close, I’ll share a quick “sacred reading” from the other day. I was reading John 15:1-4:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

I felt I was to focus on the phrase that is in bold above. I began to recognize some things I was doing out of habit that weren’t helpful in my desire to abide in Jesus. They weren’t especially bad things, only distracting things that subtly bumped me off center. My prayer was then to ask Jesus to go ahead and prune those things from me and show me how I’m supposed to participate!

God is so good. He wants relationship with us more than any perfection in our behavior. He wants our participation and seems to honor even our stumbling attempts at it. He truly wants to transform us from the inside out to be more like Him, when we’ll experience ever greater freedom and love.

1. Bill Hamon (1987). Prophets and Personal Prophecy: God's Prophetic Voice Today Volume 1. Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image Publishers, Inc.

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Cycles | Kintsugi

John Rice August 27, 2021

Have you ever experienced a season of goodness long enough that you started taking it for granted? Or that you started to believe that maybe if you kept living an exemplary life, it never would have to be interrupted?

I used to think life was supposed to be something always within my comfort zone, something kind of easy peasy, with just a bit of challenge thrown in to be interesting. If life happened to throw me a major curve ball, it was certainly from the devil.

Whether it is the devil on the other end of the imperfections, disruptions or catastrophes of our lives, I can’t say for sure, but one thing I do know is that life is full of good and bad, easy and difficult, joy and sorrow - and no one is exempt. Sometimes our own choices lead us down the wrong path and we end up injured, addicted or broken in some way.

Have you ever gotten trapped in an unhealthy habit which you felt powerless to escape from? I have. And I know many people who have as well. In those entanglements, people often have to “hit bottom” before they will finally reach out to find the help and resources they need to get free. And often when we think we (or someone we know) has hit bottom, we haven’t quite yet, and have to fall even deeper before we hit it. This is such a hard thing to experience for ourselves or watch happen to someone we love. It is really like a series of small deaths: a death of dreams and expectations, a death of our belief in rational solutions and spiritual platitudes, a death in believing that we are better than this.

I now no longer expect life to always be easy and happy, though thankfully sometimes it is. I know we will all experience “small deaths” while we are living on this earth. But I’ve seen enough of these that I’ve learned a very important truth: God’s grace is always deeper than we could ever fall. Hitting bottom is really falling into His hands, though it might not feel like that at the time. As we let God help us recover, we also can notice an amazing consequence: He fills in the broken areas of our lives with His “Gold Glue”.

In Colossians 1:17 it is written,
Jesus is before all things and in Him all things hold together.

He holds all things together and certainly that includes us and all our broken pieces! An ancient Japanese technique illustrates this well for us. It is called kintsugi and it is a practice used to restore broken pottery. Kintsugi is founded on the principle that just because something is broken does not mean it should be thrown away. Rather, it should be honored for its life and beauty by restoring it to wholeness through applying a glue filled with gold flakes. The effect is stunning. Though one will always be able to see where the piece of pottery was once broken, it now serves the purpose it was intended for with streaks of gold that “hold all things together” and now shines with an interesting and exceptional beauty.

Jesus is before all things and after all things, the Alpha and Omega. He holds all things together during our life here on earth, during our transition to the after-life, and in the heavenlies as well! There is nowhere that His grace is not present.

Isaiah states it so beautifully in Chapter 61:
God has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners…..and to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

To God, absolutely no one is a “throw away.” Not only does God restore, repair and honor His broken people, sometimes He even allows us to participate with Him in this work by helping others we know who are experiencing brokenness of some kind. This all sounds like pure gold to me!!

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CitySalt Church

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