Grace Notes
a weekly blog by Steven Norris
Fasting in the Heart
By Steven Norris Next week begins the season of Lent for the church (Ash Wednesday is February 18). Fasting is one of the key practices of this season. The following is adapted from my book, Emptied Out: A Personal Journey Through Lent. I was ten years old. My...
Stopping Hatred at Its Root
By Steven Norris How do you create space for genuine connection with those who are different from you? For the first three weeks in January, a group in our church tried to do just that as we read and discussed Howard Thurman’s book, Jesus and the Disinherited. Thurman...
What Do I Do With My Anger?
By Steven Norris Have you heard the parable about the snake and the saw? One night a snake entered a shed looking for food. Whoever had last been in the shed had left it quite a mess with tools scattered about. As the snake explored the shed, he slithered over a saw,...
The Hidden Battle of Addiction
by Steven Norris The epidemic of addiction has wreaked untold havoc on individuals and families throughout our community, nation, and world. According to the U.S. National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), one in every six Americans (16.8%) aged 12 and older...
Resolution or Revelation?
By Steven Norris We are one week into the new year. How are your New Year’s resolutions going? Have you broken any yet? This is the time that many will make fresh commitments to do the things that keep slipping to the bottom of the to-do list — eat healthier, go to...
Choosing What We Keep
By Steven Norris The great Twentieth Century mystic, theologian, and pastor, Howard Thurman once told the story about a man who visited an antique store. It was an exclusive, upscale place typically frequented by those who could afford to purchase such rare items....
The Humility of Christ
By Steven Norris In the ebb and flow of broader cultural values, humility has fallen on hard times. There were times when folks recognized the importance of quiet strength — when men and women just did what was needed to serve their neighbor without the need to be...
Waging Guerilla Joy-fare
By Steven Norris We stretched the toboggans over our ears, wrapped the scarves around our necks, and piled into the church van armed with a stack of lyric sheets and heart full of Christmas cheer. Arriving at the first house, we circled the steps leading up to the...
The Gift of Love
By Steven Norris My wife and I looked at each other with shock and disappointment. How had we allowed it to happen again!? We had just finished coordinating our calendars for the week. Here it was, only the second week into Advent, and there was not a free night...
Hope for Real Families
By Steven Norris Where do you come from? Who are your people? The answers to such questions give context and location to a life. It is no surprise that the story of Jesus begins with a genealogy (Matthew 1:1-17) — tracing his lineage back to Israel’s origins and...