Author: Dwight J. Friesen

Discovering Your Mezzo Parish

Guiding your faith community into even greater faithful presence within its parish invites discernment of the collective. Where and how to focus time and energy is a vital and ongoing journey of listening and adapting. Sometimes we get sidetracked by

Dwight J. Friesen October 6, 2021November 12, 2021

You up for a Chat?

One of my great joys is engaging in conversation with leaders & groups seeking to discover the church that is emerging after Christendom. So many followers of the Jesus way can feel the many ways that our times are changing.

Dwight J. Friesen October 3, 2021November 3, 2021

Parish Collective, Inhabit/Connect 2021

Here are two great panel discussions from Parish Collective’s, 2021 Inhabit Connect. “Inhabit Connect” is the pandemic substitute for Parish Collective’s annual flagship event in Seattle, the Inhabit Conference. By the Way tickets for the 2022 in person Inhabit are

Dwight J. Friesen October 1, 2021November 4, 2021

“Listening” by William Stafford

Listening by William Stafford My father could hear a little animal step, or a moth in the dark against the screen, and every far sound called the listening out into places where the rest of us had never been. More

Dwight J. Friesen September 29, 2021December 14, 2021

Learning from Recent Church History

Mike Cosper and a talented team at Christianity Today’s CT Podcasts have produced series exploring “The Rise & Fall of Mars Hill.” As you likely know, Mars Hill Church was planted in 1996 and pastored by Mark Driscoll in Seattle

Dwight J. Friesen September 23, 2021November 4, 2021

Fall Classes are Start’n Up

The 2021 Fall trimester begins today at The Seattle School. If my math if correct term marks the starting of my 53rd trimester at this school. In the off chance that anyone needed a reminder of the impermanence of all

Dwight J. Friesen September 20, 2021November 4, 2021

“Did You Think I Was A City” by rupi kaur

Did You Think I Was a City by rupi kaur did you think i was a city big enough for a weekend getaway i am the town surrounding it the one you’ve never heard of but always pass through there

Dwight J. Friesen September 16, 2021November 4, 2021

Go Back, Engage, Bring It Forward

Earlier this week The Seattle School held its 2021 Instructional Team Orientation retreat, during which Dr. President Derek McNeil delivered an address. He organized his talk around “Sankofa.” Which as you may know, is a word from the Akan Twi

Dwight J. Friesen September 10, 2021November 4, 2021

“Staying Alive” by David Wagoner

Staying Alive by David Wagoner Staying alive in the woods is a matter of calming down At first and deciding whether to wait for rescue, Trusting to others, Or simply to start walking and walking in one direction Till you

Dwight J. Friesen September 7, 2021November 4, 2021

“Love Does That” by Meister Eckhart

Love Does That by Meister Eckhart All day long a little burro labors, sometimes with heavy loads on her back and sometimes just with worries about things that bother only burros. And worries, as we know, can be more exhausting

Dwight J. Friesen September 6, 2021November 4, 2021

Labor Day… Work Stoppage

“Every person needs to take one day away.  A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future.  Jobs, family, employers, and friends can exist one day without any one of us, and if our egos permit us

Dwight J. Friesen September 5, 2021November 4, 2021

Suffering is NOT Punishment, Pleasure is NOT Reward

Breath is life. Inhaling… Exhaling… Things come together and things fall a part. Into every life comes pain & suffering, and joy & pleasure. Suffering is not Divine judgement any more than pleasure is God’s reward. Both are part of

Dwight J. Friesen September 4, 2021November 4, 2021

Now Welcoming New Directees

“When I heard about spiritual direction, I felt as if I was seeing an old friend I had never met. Spiritual direction (this new old friend) led me deeper into the love of God. Spiritual direction helped me experience more

Dwight J. Friesen September 3, 2021November 4, 2021

UN-Habitat “Urban October”

We have one month to get ready for the UN-Habitat’s Urban October. UN-Habitat is engaging people and groups from all over the world to think about where they live and how they live where they live, with an eye to

Dwight J. Friesen September 1, 2021September 26, 2022

From Ally to Co-Conspiratorship

Last night Lynette introduced me the following excerpt from a conversation between Dr. Bettina Love, author of We Want to do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom and Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, award winning Associate Professor

Dwight J. Friesen August 27, 2021November 7, 2021

Cultivating Imagination for a More Shalomic Future

Leading Ideas Talks brings to the table cutting-edge leaders on subjects you care about — navigating change, reaching younger people, financing your ministry, communicating effectively — to help you be the leader God is calling you to be. Dr. Ann Michel,

Dwight J. Friesen August 24, 2021November 8, 2021

25 Years Ago

This year marks the 25th anniversary of one of the great records of all time – in my opinion – Beck’s Odelay. Lynette and I went to this show when he came to Seattle… amazing. Beck is not only a

Dwight J. Friesen August 20, 2021November 8, 2021

Interview on the Earthkeepers Podcast

The good folks over at Circlewood released interviewed me for their Earthkeepers Podcast. Its Episode 36, “For a Greener Future.” Their site says: In this episode, Forrest talks to the authors of a book called 2020s Foresight: Three Vital Practices for

Dwight J. Friesen August 17, 2021January 6, 2023

2021 Climate Change Report

Earlier this week the sixth assessment report (AR6) by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It is a well researched and carefully documented report coming in at nearly 4,000 pages. While I haven’t finished reading the full report yet,

Dwight J. Friesen August 14, 2021September 26, 2022

Lewis Center for Church Leadership

Dr. Ann Michel, associate director of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary recently shared an excerpt from, 2020s Foresight: Three Vital Practices for Thriving in a Decade of Accelerating Change, on its “Leading Ideas” blog &

Dwight J. Friesen August 13, 2021November 8, 2021

Flipping the Script on Church Owned Property

Flipping the Script on Stewardship: COVID-19 & the Shift from Church Property to Kingdom Building For more than a year, your church’s building has been unused.  Yet, not having access to it didn’t stop your faith community from being a

Dwight J. Friesen August 2, 2021November 8, 2021

Walking Sacred Ground… Montgomery, Selma, & Birmingham

During our first trip to visit my sister and her family since they made the seismic move from Calgary, Alberta to Birmingham, Alabama – which happened to be our first flight anywhere since the beginning of the pandemic – they

Dwight J. Friesen July 25, 2021November 17, 2021

“Lost”

Lost by David Wagoner Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here, And you must treat it as a powerful stranger, Must ask permission to know it and be known.

Dwight J. Friesen July 8, 2021November 8, 2021

2021 Integrative Projects

Annually, at the end of the Spring term at The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology we gather to hear TEDish-styled presentations from graduating seniors. While most of the presentations are made by graduates of the school’s theology programs, some counseling students

Dwight J. Friesen June 9, 2021November 8, 2021

Pride Month Readings

June is Pride Month. Which is the perfect opportunity to highlight some of some of the important LGBTQ+ theological writings followers of the Way of Jesus the Christ are researching, writing, and reading to help us love God, love neighbor,

Dwight J. Friesen June 1, 2021November 17, 2021

Joy Oladokun

Breathe Again by Joy Oladokun The Devils in the basement in my homeA flight of stairs is way too closeHe comes for me when I’m aloneCollecting debts that I don’t oweFollow me down where the waters run deepI’ll let you

Dwight J. Friesen May 23, 2021April 23, 2024

Planning for our Mega Cities

I invite you to watch the above video with an open heart. Attend to your own curiosity as you watch it. Every one of us come to data dumps like this with our uniqueness and particular hermeneutics. This is is

Dwight J. Friesen May 18, 2021September 26, 2022

Remembering Dr. René Padilla

“The practice of justice is at the center of God’s purpose for human life. It is so closely related to the worship of the living God as the only true God that no act of worship is acceptable to [God]

Dwight J. Friesen May 3, 2021November 3, 2022

International Jazz Day

Jazz stands for freedom. It’s supposed to be the voice of freedom: Get out there and improvise, and take chances, and don’t be a perfectionist – leave that to the classical musicians. Dave Brubeck Today is the tenth Annual International

Dwight J. Friesen April 30, 2021November 20, 2021

Evolution of the Internet Since 1997

I just received the May issue of WIRED in the mail, and one of the articles titled “Internet Boom” by Lily Hay Newman caught my attention. The piece offered a brief introduction to Barrett Lyon’s trippy visualization which charts the

Dwight J. Friesen April 27, 2021November 20, 2021