More Than Today

I started 2021 with a goal of 60 books which was less than the number of books that I had read in 2020, which was 72. I like to achieve goals so I thought that would make it easier to achieve this goal. Before the end of May, I was over my goal so I kept increasing it for the rest of the year. From 60 to 70, then to 100, then to 110, and finally to 120. About halfway through December or so I hit and then exceeded my goal. I read 121 books in 2021. Then I decided not to finish any more books in 2021 but to keep listening / reading and wait to complete them in 2022 for my new goal. I know that's strange but that's what I did. Today is the first of January and it's time to start my new goal and finish a book or two up very soon. Goals are funny things. I don't always hit my goals but they help me reach more than I would have without them. My reading list has a variety of authors and ranges from fiction to non-fiction. I like Charles Dickens' books so I have been readin...

Sometimes you don’t know what to call it when you are part of a church that is different than what you think it should be. Maybe you are thinking things are changing so fast. Or things are changing too fast. Or things aren't changing fast enough. So you try to describe what you want to happen. Revitalization. But that takes a while and you certainly aren’t there yet. Re-engineered. But the pieces are so separate that you aren’t there yet. Reimagined. But you can’t see that far ahead and you definitely aren’t there yet. So here is a word. Repurposed. So much that we have doesn’t need to be thrown on the garbage heap of life but if we keep it a new purpose for it is needed. Repurposed. Taking what we have in front of us and doing what it is able to do. Perhaps that is taking “Church” and repurposing it to what it was always meant to be. We know the ways we have been using it don’t matter or work as much or at all anymore. Maybe they did at one point but slowly they drifted from what ...

My name is Rich Thornton. I am pleased to have this opportunity to speak to you today on a very important subject. But before I do that let me introduce myself so that you may decide whether to consider what I say on this very important topic to be potentially life-changing or just a presentation in an air-conditioned room with free snacks and drinks before you head out to the beach for s’mores and more. Who am I? Why am I here?  What in the world am I doing using Comic Neue font? The answers to these intriguing questions lie ahead, perhaps.  My full name is Richard Frederick Thornton. My last name is from my father, my middle name is from my mother’s father, and my first name was that of someone I ran into once in a campground when I was an adult and he told me that I was named after him. My father, when confronted agreed that was the case so evidently I was named after a friend of the family at some point and my parents liked the name Richard which is the story I’m going wit...

1. Give yourself the break that you are trying so hard to give to others. 2. Pouring more of the words of Jesus into my life is energizing today, gives me more for others, and... OK, it is fine just to hear Jesus speak to me and energizing. The "for others" part is just an outgrowth of that. 3. Naps are holy moments. your body was made by God and when your body tells you to nap listen to God and nap. Life is not a contest. Finish strong tomorrow by taking a nap when you need it. A restful place for holy moments many years ago at Doubling Gap Center, Newville, PA.  

I refuse. I refuse to lose your friendship, as far as it is up to me, over differences of opinion on current events. I refuse. I refuse to say you are not a Christian based on how you voted or your political party, or lack thereof. I refuse. I refuse to let the battles outside of us misdirect me from the calling on my life to reflect hope to you. I refuse. 

As I was listening one day to the Acts of the Holy Spirit, some call it the book of Acts in the Bible, I was struck by how often the Holy Spirit does act and then we try to put what happens in a box. We try to categorize, clarify, and demystify something that is outside of all of that. In the process, we take the joy out of it. When those who knew Jesus and experienced the Holy Spirit shared that with others they simply told what had happened, what they had heard, what they had seen. Could it be that they trusted the Holy Spirit to make what they were saying real to the listener? They didn't complicate it. They knew they were sharing difficult teachings and experiences. They had seen and heard Jesus take what God was saying to him and share it with stories and what was going on right then. They were writing stories and poems and songs in a real sense. They were bringing into the open moments that only God would make real for others. They were painting pictures, making sculptures, d...