The personal blog of Jeff Hoffmeyer
Central to the practice of being a Christian is the discipline of listening to God in prayer. Jesus often withdrew to listen to the Father, and his followers are to do the same. What follows is a simple (and not at all complete) guide to this practice. 1. Set a Time to Listen. Listening to […]
Of all the beings in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the Ents are my favorite. They’re trees–trees that move, and who have lived for thousands of years, trees that shepherd and protect other trees. They’re trees, trees that talk–v e r r y s l o w l y. Entish, the language of Ents, […]
I think it’s perhaps the cuteness of Jesus that people walk away from. This is understandable, particularly at Christmas. The baby Jesus in the manger with all the animals–it’s all so adorable, and gets lumped in with the rest of the cuteness of the season. What, though, is the substance of the birth of Jesus? […]
Strangely, one of my favorite moments of the Christmas season occurs in a cemetery. My wife’s name is Heather, and her family gathers every year to cover two graves with blankets of pine boughs adorned with Christmas decorations. Prior to going to the graveside, there is a decorating party where the blankets are prepared. The role […]
One of the greatest stage performances ever is, of course, Linus’ reading of Luke 2.8-14 in the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. Linus seems to have not just memorized the words but internalized them; his tone matches the wonder and majesty of Luke’s prose, and his delivery somehow exults the text while simultaneously positing that his own existence, […]
The Twitter rage against “thoughts and prayers” offered by politicians following yesterday’s shooting in San Bernardino, originating with @igorvolsky (and fueled by the New York Daily New’s Headline, “God Isn’t Fixing This”) and his shaming of politicians who tweeted out “thoughts and prayers” and yet have received contributions from the NRA is, admittedly, mostly about apparent […]
Christmas some years seems precarious. Not retail Christmas, of course–that’s certain and fixed, in that same hallowed category as death and taxes. The Christmas behind that one, though, the Christ-mass, the coming of God into the world, God’s inhabiting of disordered reality, the babe in the manger–that one can appear a bit thin. Its warmth and joy […]
I guess it’s not surprising that I should love a place like Pagosa Springs, CO, where I am this week. I married into this place, for my wife always vacationed here when she was little, and our family now does the same, staying with my parents-in-law who now live here. So of course my soul […]
I’ve mostly been responding to Paris as a human. Within my spirit, that is, there has been a mixture of outrage, sadness, eye-rolling resignation, and (frankly) a half-willed ignoring–getting on with my life with a Friday dinner party and a weekend flag football tournament with my nine year old. But I am a follower of […]
“Today is your day.” These were the words I heard from the congenial old man as he road away from me on his mountain bike. He’d caught up to me as I paced myself up the moderate trail in Boulder Canyon. I was trying to conserve energy, knowing that in a mile I would be […]
