Word Made Flesh is a contemplative community. One of the ways that we contemplate what God is doing in the world and in our lives is through the reflection articles that we write. We invite you to read, learn, and celebrate with us.
Jesus Wept by Rachel Dyachenko
June 2009
“Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” (Ephesians 5:14, TNIV). Dear Friends and Family, I spent a week this month in the small mountain village of Lepşa on our regional staff retreat with Word Made Flesh folks from Sierra Leone, Moldova and Romania. Surrounded by mountain valleys and the…
Figuring Out That New Logo
We’ve heard back from friends some humorous interpretations of our new logo. We thought we’d share them with you. When Kathy M. got a postcard with this image on the cover, she thought the new logo was a man with a pineapple head. Naturally. Amy G. was just terribly uncertain of what it was. “It…
Brazil Prayer Requests May 2009
1. The Brazil field is having a meeting this week to see if our by-laws fit the requirements to register as a Brazilian NGO. Please pray that it goes smoothly. 2. Pray for our search for an office space and program center. We have been searching for some time now without success but recently an…
Submission: The Way to Genuine Freedom and Authority
By Dănuţ Mănăstireanu Originally appeared in The Cry: The Advocacy Journal of Word Made Flesh vol. 11, no. 4 (Winter 2005) “No man appears in safety before the public eye, unless he first relishes obscurity. No man is safe in speaking, unless he loves to be silent. No man rules safely, unless he is willing…
The Cry Vol 8 No 4
When Hungers Clash By Miroslav Volf His name I have forgotten, but the image of him eating at our table is indelible. Every month on the first Sunday he would make his way from the back country to the city of Novi Sad, where my father was a pastor. A fellow Pentecostal, surrounded by a…
The Cry Vol 9 No 1
Community: A Place for Healing and Growth for All By Jean Vanier In 1976, we welcomed Claudia into our l’Arche community in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. She was seven years old, blind and suffering from severe autism. We found her in a local asylum where she had been abandoned as a child. When she arrived in l’Arche,…
The Cry Vol 8 No 1
Spacious Intimacy: Making Room For God By Christine Pohl Seeking and claiming intimacy with God would involve extraordinary presumption if it weren’t a possibility that runs through the Scriptures. The idea that we, God’s broken, obstinate creation, could be drawn into the privileges of intimacy with the creator and redeemer of the universe should strike…
The Cry Vol 7 No 4
Only the Suffering God Can Help By Jürgen Moltmann This was the saving experience of my life. It was 1944, at the end of World War II. As a boy of 18 years, I was drafted into the German army. In February 1945, I was taken prisoner of war and spent more than three years…
The Cry Vol 6 No 3
Wounded Childhood: Sierra Leone’s Worst Casualty of War By Phyllis Kilbourn and Chris Heuertz “Compassion fatigue” was the term coined to describe the effect that media coverage of horrific atrocities and desperate human traumas has had on us. It’s usually marked by a disinterest and an apathetic disconcern about the reality around the world. North…
The Cry Vol 6 No 4
Created for Community By Dr. Samuel Kamaleson We are created for community. Relationship constitutes the core of redemption. St. Paul writing to Timothy about his gifted role in transforming mission reminds him about the Holy Spirit’s ability to heal us from the fear of people: “For the Holy Spirit, God’s gift, does not want you…