David Czeisel

pastor, parent, Christian, computer geek - but not always in that order

[Leonard Sweet @lensweet]

The Missional Life and Legacy:

The Call: You are called. Trust it.
The Cloud: You don’t carry it alone. Honor your withnesses.
The Continuity: When you lose your way, go back to what made you. Carry it forward and Pass the baton.

[David Czeisel @dczeisel]

@reverendwild1 Thank you for your ministry with the youth this weekend! Tyler was very honored to meet you!

[Leonard Sweet @lensweet]

Last week, I opened my home to a circle of scholars, a cohort mentored by Dr. #ScottJones for Southeastern University, where we feasted on the name of Jesus. All week, Jesus—His story, His mystery, His life—danced in our midst. I tell my students I study with them, expecting to learn as much as I teach, and oh, how they unveiled treasures last week.

One conversation, sparked by the Spirit, turned to trees—those silent prophets rooted deep in Scripture. We lingered on the Tree of Life, shimmering with semiotic splendor, distinct from every other tree. Then Ben Sanders, a wise voice in our circle, shared a revelation that still hums in my heart. He tells his congregation to see every tree as a mirror of the church. A tree, he said, is a Stick of Redemption. It drinks in our toxins, our pollutions, the wreckage of human waste, and—through some divine alchemy—breathes out oxygen, life itself. More than that, it offers fruit, sustenance, beauty.
So it is with the church. These are my words now, but the church is no sterile sanctuary; it is a living grove, a sacred arbor. It gathers the broken, the wounded, the poisoned, the damaged, and through the wild mystery of grace, transfigures them into something radiant—beautiful, good, and true. The church is where the toxic becomes tonic, where the ruined is reborn, where the Cross, that ultimate Tree of Life, whispers redemption to all who draw near.

Thank you, Ben Sanders, for reminding me what it means to be the church. Let us be trees of life, Redemption Sticks, rooted in Christ, breathing out hope, bearing fruit for a hungry world.
#TreeOfLife #ChurchAsRedemption #JesusInAllThings #RedemptionStick

[Henri Nouwen (1932–1996) @nofearinlove77]

“Tolerance is not indifference but the ability to embrace differences with respect and understanding. It flows from a heart that sees the other not as a threat, but as a fellow traveler on the journey of life.”
— Henri Nouwen, “Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life”

[Timothy Keller (1950-2023) @timkellernyc]

Tolerance can't include hating people you think are intolerant. It's about how your beliefs lead you to treat those people.

[United Methodist News @UMNS]

Insurance for church property is becoming costlier, says Ken Sloane, director of stewardship and generosity for United Methodist Discipleship Ministries. He offers reasons why and makes suggestions on how churches can respond. https://t.co/h3RwT6omuU

[Dr. Henry Cloud @DrHenryCloud]

Surround yourself with people who think differently, challenge your limiting beliefs, and inspire you to grow. Their positive influence can help reinforce new patterns of thinking.

[Dr. Henry Cloud @DrHenryCloud]

5 Ways to Cultivate Emotional Intelligence

1. Practice self-reflection:
- Take time each day to check in with yourself. What are you feeling? Why might you be feeling that way?

2. Seek feedback:
- Ask trusted friends or colleagues for honest feedback about how you come across to others.

3. Develop your emotional vocabulary:
- The more nuanced your understanding of emotions, the better you can identify and manage them.

4. Practice active listening:
- Focus on what others say rather than just waiting for your turn to speak.

5. Learn to recognize your triggers:
- Identify the situations or behaviors that tend to provoke strong emotional reactions in you.

By cultivating your emotional intelligence, you're not just improving your own life — you're contributing to a world where understanding, empathy, and thoughtful communication are the norm. And in today's complex, fast-paced world, these skills are more valuable than ever.

Remember, developing emotional intelligence is a journey, not a destination. It's about progress, not perfection. Each time you pause to reflect and choose a thoughtful response over an automatic reaction, you strengthen your emotional intelligence muscles.

[David Czeisel @dczeisel]

"Silence is God's first language. Everything else is just translation." - not sure who said it.

[Timothy Keller (1950-2023) @timkellernyc]

Tolerance isn’t about not having beliefs. It’s about how your beliefs lead you to treat people who disagree with you.

[Pope Francis – ARCHIVE @Pontifex266Arch]

#Prayer is the driving force of our life. It can seem like an abstract reality, far from our problems. Yet, prayer is essential, because we cannot go very far on our own. We are not all-powerful, and we fail miserably when we think we are. #YearOfPrayer

[Dr. Henry Cloud @DrHenryCloud]

6 Ways to Improve Your Thinking

1. Avoid All-or-Nothing Thinking
- Treat events as they are: single events. If you fail at something, so what? No one who has ever succeeded did not sometimes fail.

2. Watch negative thoughts
- Negative thoughts have power. Everyone has them, but happy people let them fly by like a bird instead of catching them and inviting them to move into their heads and build nests.

3. Avoid Catastrophic Thinking
- Catastrophic thinking is seeing something as horrible when it doesn’t have to be seen that way.

4. Don’t overgeneralize a bad moment
- If you generalize a few bad experiences or people, then you won’t be open to all the good that could happen.

5. See both sides
- Unhappy people tend to block out the positive and only see the negative.

6. God is bigger than the negative.
- Remember, God told us that we live in a world that will always have imperfections. But He is bigger than the negative and still wants you to enjoy all the good here.

Every single day, happy people think thoughts that help them stay happy, and unhappy people do the opposite. It sometimes takes work to align our thoughts with the way God tells us to think and believe, but the work is worth it. Ready to start improving your thoughts? Head to https://t.co/fhNMp0YDee to get daily coaching just like this.

[United Methodist News @UMNS]

"Your 'yes' to God requires your 'no' to all injustice, to all evil, to all lies, to all oppression and violation of the weak and poor, to all ungodliness, and to all mockery of what is holy. Your 'yes' to God requires a 'no' to everything that tries to interfere with your serving God alone, even if that is your job, your possessions, your home, or your honor in the world. Belief means decision." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer #UMCGC

[Leonard Sweet @lensweet]

"Prayer Power," anyone? I have always liked the "Prayer Power" formula of "Prayerize, Picturize, Actualize" Norman Vincent Peale advocated, although I would prefer "Visualize" or "Imaginize" to "Picturize:"
Prayerize: Bring your heart's desires and needs and hopes to God in prayer.
Picturize: After prayerizing, try visualizing possible scenarios of how your desires and needs might find fulfillment and take you from floundering to flourishing.
Actualize: Embrace your agency in taking action in alignment with your prayers and visualizations. Prayer is not passive, but active. It is "as if living" and trusting in God's power to change us, change lives, change the world, and change our prayers.
Through prayer, imagination, and embodied agency, we can best tap into resources of the divine to overcome challenges and transcend limitations. #PrayerPower

[David Czeisel @dczeisel]

@dianabutlerbass So disturbing that people think that being Christian means removing half the population from the conversation.

[Pope Francis – ARCHIVE @Pontifex266Arch]

May we learn to cultivate the virtue of temperance. By controlling our words and actions we can avoid useless conflicts and promote #Peace in our society. #GeneralAudience

[Timothy Keller (1950-2023) @timkellernyc]

We tend to demonize the opposite group of people or thing of what we idolize.

[Pope Francis – ARCHIVE @Pontifex266Arch]

Life can be filled with contradictions, frustrated desires, broken dreams, and lost friendships. Yet, the Resurrection of Jesus allows us to believe that all will be redeemed. #EasterSeason

[Pope Francis – ARCHIVE @Pontifex266Arch]

With the Resurrection of Jesus, evil has lost its power and our failures cannot prevent us from starting anew. Death has become a gateway to the beginning of new life. #GeneralAudience

[Leonard Sweet @lensweet]

The only thing better than for Easter and April Fools to be back to back is for them to coincide . . but we have to wait for 2029 for that to happen (2018 was the last). April Fools is a holy day for Jesus disciples as well. In a world that celebrates success and elevates status, Jesus offers a haven for those who feel like misfits or failures or mavericks. The church embraces the foolishness of faith, recognizing that the message of the cross may seem like folly to some. Yet, it is in this very foolishness that we find profound wisdom, hope, and belonging. The church stands as a sanctuary for all, a community of grace bound together by a risen Christ that shows us how to rise above worldly standards of success and cultural yardsticks of achievement. #AprilFoolsDay2024