Blog Archive
Contemplating the messiness of Christian life
The Messy Jesus Business Blog is an ecumenical Christian gathering of musings about what it means to live the Gospel today. A variety of contributors offer prayer, poetry, book reviews, creative nonfiction and prose about what it means to live a life of faith in our complex, modern times.
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What do you do when the world doesn’t end?
Most of us are familiar with the story of Jonah and the whale. God tells Jonah to warn the people of Nineveh to repent, but the prophet, instead, runs away, taking passage on a ship. So God sends a storm after him, and Jonah implores the sailors to save themselves by throwing him overboard. A…
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Tough mind, tender heart
“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” (Matthew 10:16) These are not the most comforting words of Jesus, yet I have returned to them often over the years and offered them to those confounded by injustice, hate, aggression. Play it…
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Shane Claiborne: Faith as Fuel for World Change (re-release)
Revisiting Episode 17 from December 3, 2020. Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe:  Email | RSS | More IN THIS EPISODE In this episode of Messy Jesus Business, originally released as episode 17 from Dec. 3, 2020, Sister Julia Walsh talks with Shane Claiborne, a best-selling author, speaker and activist. They discuss what it means to be a peacemaker while living…
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Christmas at the border
Images by Julius Scholsburg, courtesy of Kino Border Initiative I recently moved to the borderlands. It is a graced, gritty place — far away from the snow-covered landscape that is lit up so beautifully this time of year; the landscape that I left behind about a month ago. I am now centered in Ambos Nogales…
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Waiting and changing when you really don’t know what’s coming
The day after Advent began, I sat in a circle of men in a brightly lit, windowless room inside the county jail. We were taking turns reading prayers and Scripture aloud and pausing to reflect on the messages of hope and promise. Together we mused on all we’re waiting for and how it feels to…
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Christmas at Greccio: The Incarnation through the Eyes of Saint Francis
by Jon M. Sweeney Let’s set the scene, briefly. This took place toward the end of his life, when Francis of Assisi had already visited Bethlehem in the Holy Land, and had seen the Sultan in the Nile Delta; he had already witnessed his religious order “moving on” past his initial inspiration and leadership (in ways…
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Kerry Alys Robinson: Generous and Grateful Servant Leadership
Episode 70 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh. Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe:  Email | RSS | More IN THIS EPISODE In this episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, Sister Julia Walsh, FSPA, enjoys a conversation with Kerry Alys Robinson, CEO and President of Catholic Charities USA, who shares that witnessing the joy and faith of Catholics…
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Journeying towards Bethlehem
I remember once when I was younger, our parish priest returned from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and brought olive wood rosaries for all the students in my Catholic grade school. I enjoyed holding that rosary in my hands and breathing in its earthy smell. It reminded me of my grandpa’s shop where he…
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Mary J. Novak: The Messy, Necessary Mix of Faith and Politics
Episode 69 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh. Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe:  Email | RSS | More IN THIS EPISODE In this episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, Sister Julia Walsh, FSPA, talks with Mary J. Novak, executive director of NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice in Washington, D.C. Mary shares life experiences that proved her…
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A high lonesome psalm
For a few brief months, Lake Haiyaha in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park burned an arctic blue, made green and glowing by glacial flour. The sediment, finer than sand, results from rock slides and turns the water milky turquoise. Above Lake Haiyaha, at 10,000 feet, lies Chaos Canyon — a steep mountainside gully created by…
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Vincent J. Miller: The Grind of Hope In a Crisis
Episode 68 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh. Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe:  Email | RSS | More IN THIS EPISODE In this episode of the Messy Jesus Business podcast, Sister Julia Walsh, FSPA, talks with Vincent J. Miller, the Gudorf Chair of Catholic Theology and Culture at the University of Dayton. Vincent shares how his studies…
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Casting away demons
Through the work of prison ministry, I read letter after letter from men in prison who describe encounters with the devil and evil spirits, haunting and taunting them. Behind the walls of prisons, demons are something known and feared. These men have been made out to be enemies of the state, bearers of evil that…
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