Senior Minister @fccithaca / PhD @UofT / ThM @harvarddivinity / Book: Christianity in Blue / NYY fan / Music: metal, Wu-Tang, The Cure, Thievery Corp., etc.
Voyager 1: Humanity’s Eternal Time Capsule, Now Sailing Through Interstellar Space Far beyond the edge of our Solar System, the legendary Voyager 1 spacecraft is hurtling through the vast emptiness of interstellar space at over 38,000 mph — carrying the most ambitious message humanity has ever sent into the cosmos.On board is the iconic Golden Record, a gold-plated phonograph disc designed to survive for a billion years. It’s packed with the very soul of Earth:Chuck Berry’s electrifying “Johnny B. Goode” and other iconic tracks that rock the galaxy
Warm spoken greetings in 55 different languages, from ancient tongues to modern voices
A rich symphony of natural sounds: crashing waves, thunder, birdsong, wind, whales, and the laughter of children
Human-made audio showcasing our music, technology, and civilization
Encoded on the record are also images — 116 photographs that paint a vivid portrait of life on our pale blue dot, from birth and family to landscapes, science, and the wonders of our world.A golden bottle cast into the cosmic ocean, the Voyager Golden Record is humanity’s way of saying:
“We were here. This is who we are.”And somewhere, perhaps millions of years from now, someone — or something — might just find it… and smile.
Arp 240: A Cosmic Dance Across 300 Million Light-Years
This image captures something truly breathtaking unfolding 300 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo.Two majestic spiral galaxies, collectively known as Arp 240 (NGC 5257 and NGC 5258), are gently interacting in the early stages of a gravitational embrace. Connected by a delicate bridge of stars and gas, they appear to be holding hands as they glide through space together.
https://t.co/azFd3dJNDz
Their mutual gravitational pull is already distorting each other’s elegant spiral arms, stretching them into graceful tidal tails and triggering intense bursts of new star formation. What we’re witnessing is the slow, majestic beginning of what may one day become a full galactic merger.The sheer scale is humbling: the light we see today left these galaxies 300 million years ago — when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth. In that vast stretch of time and distance, two entire galaxies have been locked in this slow-motion cosmic waltz.Galaxies rarely live in isolation. They collide, merge, and reshape one another, building the larger structures of the universe. In about 4 billion years, our own Milky Way will experience a similar (though gentler) encounter with the Andromeda Galaxy.Looking at Arp 240, it’s impossible not to feel both tiny and profoundly connected — two galaxies, millions of light-years apart, dancing together in the grand choreography of the cosmos.
Simon Sinek offers a counterintuitive take: The moment you step in and fix the problem, you stop being a leader:
You got promoted because you were the best at the job.
And that's precisely what makes leadership so difficult.
The same instinct that made you great at the work, seeing the problem, knowing the answer, fixing it fast, becomes a liability the moment you move into a leadership role.
Simon is direct about this:
"Then you're not leading. You're just doing the work. You just have the leadership position."
The people who now report to you may not be as good as you. They'll move slower. They'll miss things you would have caught immediately.
And in those moments, every instinct will tell you to step in.
But that instinct is exactly what you have to resist.
"You can't just come in and tell them how you would do it. You have to push them to solve the problems the way that they would, just like someone did for you once before."
Someone once gave you the space to figure it out. That patience is what shaped you. Now it's your turn to offer the same to others.
Simon points to Chanel as a company that has built this principle into its culture.
Newly hired senior leaders are not allowed to speak in meetings for their first three months.
"You don't know anything about our company. And you'll learn by listening."
Chanel trusts that their leaders will be around for the long term, so 90 days of silence is a small price to pay for someone who truly understands the business before they start shaping it.
That's institutionalised patience. And it's almost unheard of.
Most organisations reward speed, decisiveness, and output. So the pressure to swoop in and fix things feels justified, even virtuous.
But Simon draws a hard line between having a leadership position and actually leading.
One is a title. The other is a practice.
And that practice demands something most high performers find deeply uncomfortable. Watching someone struggle toward an answer you already have, and choosing to let them find it themselves.
That restraint is the real work of leadership.
Good Friday reminds us of the power of true sacrifice.
He who bore the cross showed us that real strength lies in love and forgiveness.
Let today renew our commitment to live with honor and grace.
Wishing you a meaningful Good Friday filled with peace.
Good Friday
by Christina Rossetti
Am I a stone, and not a sheep,
That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross,
To number drop by drop Thy blood’s slow loss,
And yet not weep?
Not so those women loved
Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee;
Not so fallen Peter, weeping bitterly;
Not so the thief was moved;
Not so the Sun and Moon
Which hid their faces in a starless sky,
A horror of great darkness at broad noon –
I, only I.
Yet give not o’er,
But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock;
Greater than Moses, turn and look once more
And smite a rock.
Bad theology gets people killed.
If your theology justifies the killing of thousands of people in order to expedite the apocalypse and quicken the second coming of Christ… let it go.
God is not a monster.
God is not a blood-hungry villain.
God is love.
God is with the widows and orphans, the moms in Iran holding their babies.
God stands with the vulnerable, the meek, the merciful.
Jesus is the Prince of peace.
He blesses the peacemakers not the warmakers.
He carried a cross not a gun.
He loved his enemies so much he was willing to die for them.
Choose love. Love always wins.