Christianity Archives - Page 7 of 8 - Faith and the Other Five Senses

Celibacy Is No Fun

smgianotti@me.com — June 2, 2015

My last neighbor owned a red Dodge Charger that gleamed as bright as his shaved head. He lived below me, and when his lady friends spent the night I wore earplugs.

In my new apartment, I sleep in peace. Still, sex pops up everywhere—the magazine rack at the grocery store, an episode of Parks and Recreation, or the Victoria Secret catalog jammed in my mailbox.

Photo courtesy of Craig Sunter via flickr.com

American sexuality sings like one of Homer’s sirens. Movies and magazines seduce us into believing that happiness comes from a romp through the sheets, and the prospect of a sexless existence feels like an assaults on our humanity.

For singles who choose celibacy until marriage, a healthy sex-drive can feel like a curse. Despite what married people say about enjoying singleness and the challenges of marriage, sometimes we just want to have sex Continue Reading…

In Christianity, Singleness Celibacy, Following Jesus, Sexuality, Singleness

When I’m Hurting and It Seems Like God’s to Blame

smgianotti — May 19, 2015

“Stop, Emma!” My brother’s voice exploded as he slammed the table with his fist and catapulted to his feet. His two-year-old daughter’s decent from the chair halted, fear streaking her face and her bare feet dangling above the floor. Tears welled in her eyes. Was this the daddy who kissed her before bed and stroked her blonde hair on the pillow?

Sometimes when disaster or disappointment erupts in our lives, we can feel like Emma. Hearing tires squeal and feeling the impact. Getting called to the boss’s office after a mistake. Mom’s shaky voice telling us that Dad is in the ambulance on his way to the hospital.

Photo courtesy of Aaron Watt via Creationswap.com

In these moments, anxiety paralyzes us. God feels absent, and we question his love.

When circumstances sting, it is possible that, like Emma, we don’t see everything that is at stake.

In Christianity discipline, father, God, hardship, pain, Story

How “Doing Devotions” Can Hurt Your Spiritual Life

smgianotti@me.com — April 28, 2015

Yesterday, I took a pre-work nap. That’s right. After rocketing out of bed at 5:30 a.m, I slunk back an hour later for what my great-grandfather Ted called a “horizontal.” Sliding fast into the land of sleep, I apologized to God.

“Sorry for skipping the rest of my devotions, God. I’m just so tired.”

Just before I plunged below the surface of consciousness, a thought splashed across my mind. “Why can’t the rest of the day be a devotion, too?

Photo courtesy of Kevin Carden via Creationswap.com

During my thirty minute commute on the I-20, past one of the few green patches in Dallas (thanks to the nearby sewer plant), the concept of “doing devotions” cycled through my grey matter. What if starting a day at the office (or school, or home) was like sitting down for another type of devotions—cracking open a different leather binding and unfolding a different story—but where we should expect to find God, all the same?

In Christianity Bible, Devotions, Spiritual LIfe

Do Christians Still Care About Beauty?

smgianotti@me.com — April 21, 2015

I sat in front of my laptop. The sun was still snoozing under the horizon and I was reading Exodus, one of those books from the front half of the Bible. Actually, I wasn’t reading. I was floating half-conscious over paragraphs about alters, oil, and priests and wondering why I had left the land of sleep for this.

But, then my eyes snagged on something. “And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty.” (Ex. 28:2, ESV).

Wait, I thought, beauty matters to God?

Photo courtesy of Jan Erik Waider via unsplash.com

After all the years I spent in Sunday school, I felt pretty good about how well I could predict God. If he was selecting qualities he wanted in worship—his first draft pick would be glory. Subsequent rounds he’d choose things like love, faith, and obedience. But, it had never crossed my mind that God’s idea of worship wasn’t complete without beauty Continue Reading…

In Beauty, Christianity beauty, Bible, Christianity, Worship

Confessions of a Taker

smgianotti — April 7, 2015

Recently, I drove my slow-leaking front tire over to Discount Tires. Twenty minutes later I drove off with one construction nail less, one patch more, and a receipt for $0.00.

I love free things.

Photo courtesy of Laura Merchant via Creationswap.com

I love the free advice Michael Hyatt gives on his blog—the app recommendations and statistics for why I should nap more. I love that a stranger with silver whiskers, staying in the campsite next to us, overheard our Coleman troubles and lent us his stove to cook our gumbo. I love that once when I ran an hour behind, bogged down by EKGs and sending patients to the hospital, my boss added my next patient to her schedule.

Nothing perks me up like something free.

Let me clarify. Nothing perks me up like getting something free.

In A Better World, Christianity giving, golden rule, helping others, Service, taking

Controlling My Anxiety with Mason Jars

smgianotti — March 10, 2015

I was on a pre-break-up run. Of course, I didn’t know it at the time, but I had begun to worry about my dating difficulties, and pounding it out on the trail to White Rock Lake seemed like a good idea.

I felt stuck in one of those Vine videos on Facebook, looping through the same anxious thoughts, over and over, until I wanted to scream. If only I could close the browser on my anxiety or scroll past it like a Vine. But, anxiety doesn’t work like that.

Photo courtesy of Rula Sibai via unsplash.com

Sometimes, when people quote the Bible, they seem to imply that anyone can dispel anxiety with four easy steps: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer (Step 1) and supplication (Step 2), with thanksgiving (Step 3) let your requests be made known to God (Step 4). And the peace of God…will guards your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7).

But, in all my years as a champion worrier, the four-steps approach rarely fast-tracked me to peace. True–that day on the path–praying and giving thanks reminded me that even if my relationship nosedived and I got wounded in the crash God would help me through. But, how could I get a grip on the anxious feelings?

In Anxiety, Christianity, Embodiment anxiety, Embodiment, faith, jars, peace, Philippians

Sensing the Way into Worship

smgianotti — February 24, 2015

Filming Much Ado About Nothing (2012) in black and white worked for Joss Whedon–in minimizing the visual input he managed to accentuate the drama. But this technique doesn’t always work, especially when it comes to worship.

Reading through the Bible, I get the distinct impression that God means to impress the Gospel on our senses. In foreshadowing Jesus’s death on the cross, God told the Israelites to smear lamb blood on their door posts (Exodus 12:1-13). At Mount Sinai, Moses showered the people with bulls’ blood as a sign of God’s covenant with them (Exodus 24:3-8). During the Last Supper, Jesus invited his followers to drink wine, stating that it was the new covenant in his blood (Luke 22:20).

Photo courtesy of CreationSwap via Creationswap.com

My childhood church offered grape juice at communion, so I remember (quite clearly) my first sip of vino at a cousin’s church. A streak of warm flowed down my throat and nestled into my empty belly. A couple minutes later a soft fizz started dancing in my brain. Physically speaking, that one sip changed me.

In Christianity, Embodiment, Faith Communion, Embodiment, Senses, Wine, Worship

Eternal Afternoons–Memoirs of a Pastor’s Kid on Sunday

smgianotti — January 25, 2015

Screened in on your back porch—

you big and boring people

who just learned my name

while milling in the foyer

after service.

Now I’m stuck all afternoon

at your house

because someone has to

feed the visiting pastor.

Photo Courtesy of Matt Gruber via creationswap.com

Under mom’s silent eye

I fork a bitter, leafy ball.

Chew and swallow.

Victory.

She nods and looks away.

This somebody’s grandfather

drones on, keeping time

with the walnut clock

whose ticking marches down the hall.

If only I could be anywhere,

everywhere else,

but here.

In Christianity, Poetry Canada, imagination, Pastor's Kid, Poetry, Sundays

Maybe Christianity is More like Netflix

smgianotti — January 19, 2015

I rinsed bits of wild rice and cranberry off my plate and grabbed my laptop from the table. While the next episode of Gilmore Girls loaded, I nestled into the couch and prepared myself for a Netflix binge.*

The following morning, as I sipped on a cup of french roast, I contemplated my media marathon and the power of stories to pull us in. For centuries, story-telling has kept humans up after dark—around fires, in igloos, and via MacBooks on the couch.

Stories sneak past our mental gestapo and grab us at a level where facts don’t reach. They penetrate down to where emotions shape what we want out of life.

Which makes me wonder…why do we tend to talk about Christianity like a set of beliefs, rather than a story that we’ve been swept up into?

In Christianity, Story Christianity, Evangelism, Netflix, Story, Work

Thank God for Pad Thai

smgianotti — January 14, 2015

The smell of spices wafted towards me, distracting me from my date’s prayer until he said, “God, thank you for giving Thai food to humanity.”

I choked on my saliva as I tried to hold back a laugh. In one sentence his prayer shattered the sombre Christianity that creeps around America. In thanking God for the heap of rice noodles between us, my date was paying homage to the Grand Chef who injected flavor and fun into the necessity of eating.

This incident reminded me that I need to make room in my prayers for Pad Thai…and electric blankets and Mozart’s concertos and when the Buckeye’s win (if I was an Ohio State fan).

Photo courtsey of Luca Nebuloni via flickr.com

Too often my prayers–and my spirituality–fixate on the abstract. I know God wants me to pray, but does he really care if I love swing dancing? I know he wants me to forgive, but does it matter to him whether I appreciate the artistry in one of Emily Dickinson’s poems?

In Christianity, Embodiment Food, Prayer, Senses, Thai Food

Faith and the Other Five Senses

Archives For Christianity

Celibacy Is No Fun

When I’m Hurting and It Seems Like God’s to Blame

How “Doing Devotions” Can Hurt Your Spiritual Life

Do Christians Still Care About Beauty?

Confessions of a Taker

Controlling My Anxiety with Mason Jars

Sensing the Way into Worship

Eternal Afternoons–Memoirs of a Pastor’s Kid on Sunday

Maybe Christianity is More like Netflix

Thank God for Pad Thai

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