Rev. Dr. Daniel C. Wilburn

Post-Its of Gratitude: What Did We Learn?

Posted by Rev. Dr. Daniel C. Wilburn | Mar 28, 2016 | An Unbidden Life, Uncategorized |

Lakeland people were charged with writing a word of gratitude on a Post-It each day and posting it on the kitchen wall. I think it was a success in our house. With four of us we finally had to stand on a chair to post the final few days of gratitude Post-Its. Did it work? We were supposed to be more reflective during Lent, pause and consider life and be grateful. Here’s what I found telling about our lives. We were grateful for mundane things, and we were often repetitive. The weather and food were most common gratitude subjects....

My Final Lenten Poem

Posted by Rev. Dr. Daniel C. Wilburn | Mar 23, 2016 | An Unbidden Life, Uncategorized |

I have no exit but smoke A Holocaust, An Oblation And become nothing, One with the aether Seduced! Seduced! Seduced! I am...

Miroslav Volf’s Latest Book: Flourishing: Why We Need Religion In A Globalized World and Spirituality

Posted by Rev. Dr. Daniel C. Wilburn | Feb 29, 2016 | An Unbidden Life, Uncategorized |

Scot McKnight tweeted that Miroslav Volf produced a new book about what it means to live the good life (Yale Univ. Press, Jan 11, 2016). I grabbed it up on Audible.com and began listening because I need to beef up my “social context” for my doctoral Thesis proposal (then I had to buy the print version too). In self-interest, I need to present ‘why does our culture need classic spiritual practices today?’ I ask the question if our culture is languishing – are we busy at no good thing? Are we spiritual with a small “s” rather than deeply...

#lcclent

Posted by Rev. Dr. Daniel C. Wilburn | Feb 8, 2016 | An Unbidden Life, Uncategorized |

By Pastor Dan and Laurie Wilburn What is Lent…? The Lent season starts on Ash Wednesday (this year, February 10th). Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the 40 days Jesus spent praying and fasting in the desert. Ash Wednesday derives its name from the practice of placing ashes on your forehead as a sign of mourning and repentance to God (telling him we are sorry for the times we mess up and not being who he created us to be). Lent lasts for 40 days (some traditions say the six weeks between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday – not counting Sundays, some say the 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday which is the beginning of Holy Week). Either way, the 40 days commemorate Jesus’ time of prayer and fasting in the desert (see Luke 4: 1 – 13). Lent is intended to be a time of fasting and/or practicing spiritual disciplines: – To help us repent of our sins and of our lack of pursuit of God and his desires for us; and – To reflect on Jesus – his life, his suffering, and his death and resurrection. Use your this Lent Guide as a way to lean in to this season and draw nearer to our God! The General Plan for this season of Lent… This season of Lent you can rally a group of friends...

False Fear and the Christian Faith

Posted by Rev. Dr. Daniel C. Wilburn | Dec 28, 2015 | An Unbidden Life, Uncategorized |

“Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.” – Matthew 1:20 ‘Do not be afraid’ is the most repeated phrase in the Bible. I while back I stated that we live in the most peaceful of times. I am not sure everyone agrees with me. I took my information from Fareed Zakaria’s The Post-American World 2.0 (2012). Zakaria writes, “It feels like a very dangerous world. But it isn’t. Your chances of dying as a consequence of organized violence of any kind are low and getting lower” (8). Zakaria cites the numbers that show major countries are not engaged in war. Big countries with big wars cause big loss of life. But it feels like we live in dangerous times because news is so immediate now. The internet with its cell phone cameras immediately bring all news to our big and small screens. The media companies have a large profit motive to get you to watch their feed. So they make everything outrageous. Today The Economist presents what near past was like for terrorism. Here are the statistics. Deaths by terrorism in 2014 are up by 80% from 2013, to 32,685, “the biggest rise in 15 years” (The Economist Espresso, Dec. 28, 2015). Iraq, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Syria account for 78% of...