Hello readers. I have spent many weeks building a new online home for my writing, publications, photos, and more. The new website has a lot of flexibility and allows me to be more creative with the content. That means that I will no longer be posting blogs here at outword.blogspot.com. The content here will remain accessible, meaning it is not going away anytime soon. However, you will now find me writing over at mattedowney.wordpress.com. I have made sure to include over 100 of my most recent blogs from this site (mostly on theology) as a way of ensuring continuity and familiarity. But there's a lot more than blogs on the new site. You can find my new website here . Hope to see you over there. Matte November 2021
In the evangelical circles in which I was formed, we were taught that, for the most part, we couldn't trust our desires. Desire was largely equated with lust or greed. What we wanted was deemed mostly irrelevant or even assumed to be detrimental. Unless, of course, it was linked directly to the service of God as defined by the church leaders. Unfortunately, this has resulted in many of us who were raised in the church being ill-equipped to identify our desires and honestly reflect on them. Jesus had no such hangups about desire. In fact, Jesus made a point of asking people about their desires and engaging with people's responses. Jesus believed people's desires were worth expressing and exploring. In Mark 10 we find two stories, one right after the other, in which Jesus asks: "What do you want me to do for you?" The first story takes place as Jesus and his disciples are on their way to Jerusalem. Jesus has mentioned to his close followers what troubles await him