Dear friends,

Way back in January, I invited you to join me in praying the Lord’s Prayer each day in 2023. This is the sole prayer that Jesus taught us, and I believe it distills the heart of his vision for human flourishing.

Since then, I’ve been delighted to share several excerpts from my book Flourishing on the Edge of Faith to orient and energize your practice. I hope soaking in Jesus’s prayer has nourished your flourishing and even helped you refocus what flourishing means to you. I’d love to hear from you and learn about your experience!

Today I’m sharing an excerpt from chapter seven of Flourishing, which looks at the climax of Jesus’s prayer: “Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.”

The way Jesus ends his spiritual practice is brilliant yet challenging. Kingdom, power, and glory are some of the most entrenched addictions in the human condition. Whether we look at full-scale wars or broken personal relationships, our hunger for control, power, and prestige is often at work... Read More

Dear friends,

Happy Easter! Melkam Fasika! Jesus is alive, and death has been defeated with God’s resurrection power.

Celebrating Easter twice, both last week and today, is one of the joys of being married to Lily and sharing life with our beloved Ethiopian community. Today on Ethiopian Easter (Fasika), I pray for peace, healing, and hope in our communities.

Jesus’s death and resurrection isn’t just a once-a-year holiday; it’s the center of our daily lives as followers of Jesus. In this spirit, I’m delighted to share below my article with Sojourners entitled “How Good Friday Undermines the Powers and Principalities.” I write,

God is present in our seemingly God-forsaken places of failure, violence, and suffering. But God isn’t represented by those who condemn and kill; God is revealed in the crucified Jesus, who cries out with forgiveness, hope, and trust. Christians are invited to cry out with Jesus for our enemies in remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice (Romans 5:8).

On this topic, I’ll be speaking about “Loving Your Enemy” at Wheaton College on Thursday night at 7pm in Meyer 145 Buyse Lecture Hall... Read More

Dear friends,

Yesterday marked the beginning of Holy Week. This is the sacred and sobering time when we remember Jesus’s arrest, crucifixion, and burial two thousand years ago.

As you meditate on the meaning of this week, I’m sharing an excerpt from chapter six of Flourishing on the Edge of Faith. It reflects on how Jesus responded to these extremely painful events at the end of his earthly life.

What I observe is that Jesus intensified his practice of opening his consciousness to God through prayer. As he did this, he courageously embraced what may be the most challenging paradox of faith in God’s nonviolent kingdom:

Perhaps there is stress building in your life at this time or you feel like something is coming to an end. May I invite you to pause this week and pray with Jesus the prayer that he taught us? This is not a magic charm or a quick fix. It’s a choice to open our consciousness to God and God’s promise of deliverance... Read More

Dear friends,

This week I’m delighted to share two gifts with you.

The first is a new podcast interview that I recently recorded with David Katibah for Telos’s The Check-in.

In “The Practice of Flourishing,” David and I discuss what it takes to flourish in the face of conflict and pain. We explore how practicing Jesus’s prayer grounds us and gives us the courage to be peacemakers. This conversation is a great introduction to my book Flourishing on the Edge of Faith.

I was moved by David’s incredible warmth, insightful questions, and passion for peacemaking. I hope you listen in and enjoy the conversation. The episode is available here and on all major platforms.

Second, I’m delighted to share an excerpt from chapter five of my book Flourishing on the Edge of Faith. This chapter is all about Jesus’s practice of forgiveness: “Forgive us for our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”

The last few weeks have reminded me just how intensely personal and painful seeking forgiveness can be... Read More

Dear friends,

How might the prayer that Jesus taught us both energize and also challenge our vision of social change?

I explore this question in my essay “Seeds of Contemplation and Revolution amid War,” which was recently published in Comment Magazine. The essay begins by reflecting on the spiritual vision of Thomas Merton and shares some of the story of the Neighbor-Love Movement. It then looks at Jesus’s prayer as a practice of peaceful presence.

I hope you enjoy my essay below and also explore the other rich articles on Comment‘s website. Special thanks to Anne Snyder, editor-in-chief of Comment, for so warmly welcoming and so thoughtfully engaging my essay.

May you flourish,

Andrew