I had the joy of baptizing my youngest child this past Sunday. Each time I do a baptism, I feel both elated and mystified. Christians have been doing this baptism thing ever since Jesus himself […]
Author: pete santucci
Pete Santucci loves creation, recreation, and procreation. He is a husband, father, follower of Jesus, and lover of community, hoppy beers & the great outdoors. Along with writing about faith and life, he’s available as a consultant/coach for individuals and churches and is also available as a speaker for churches, retreats, camps, and conferences. Feel free to contact him directly at petesantucci@icloud.com.
Plugging the holes in our spiritualities
A friend texted me recently about a deeply frustrating conversation he’d had with a client earlier in the day. His language was colorful. Workplace frustrations are a common experience of pretty much everyone who has a […]
How God's economy works
“It’s the economy, stupid!” Bill Clinton’s one-liner from his successful campaign against the first President Bush has echoed through every election since. There may be other issues on the table, but how the President will […]
Unforgiven
I love the Lord’s Prayer — except for one phrase. There’s one line in it that trips me up. It’s the second half of “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” I rely […]
The stories we tell ourselves & the truth of our lives
I know who I am by the stories I tell to myself. The same is true of my relationships. People who are happy in their relationships tell themselves happy stories from their relationships. They remember past […]
Choosing the old & the relational in our disposable culture
We live in a disposable culture. Not only are things disposable, but people are disposable. Anne Hathaway is only 32 years old and an Oscar-winner, and yet she’s already being passed up for movie roles […]
Is Christianity a militant faith?
As a kid, I grew up singing “Onward, Christian soldiers” and “I’m in the Lord’s army.” There seemed to be no hesitancy in using militaristic imagery to describe our faith. This was no Cold War […]
The power of passion, persistence & performance
This is the story of a boy and his piano. But more than that, it’s about how to live life well. Matthias is a whirlwind. The youngest of my four kids, we call him the Exclamation […]
St. Francis & the whole gospel for the whole person
One of my favorite characters from history is St. Francis. He and I share the same birthday, the same Lord, and the same desire to live missionally in all aspects of our lives. Granted, he […]
We're all winners! [OK. That's not true. But we can learn to lose well.]
“If you can dream it, you can achieve it.” The words were emblazoned on my kids’ elementary school walls. So. Not. True. There are things I can dream of that I simply can’t do. They’re […]
Getting what we give
If you act like a bull in a china shop, don’t be surprised if people treat you like one. If you’re a shrinking violent, don’t be surprised if people pass you by. While it’s not […]
A wider view of the Fall leads to a deeper engagement in mission
For most of my life, I viewed the primary thing wrong in the world as sin, particularly a brokenness in our individual human relationships with God. The most important thing, then, was to get people […]
Slow your breath down
Sometimes, it’s the speed of daily life. Sometimes, it’s words heard that keep bouncing off the walls of our hearts. Sometimes, it’s as series of worries that are out of our control. Sometimes, it’s a […]
Religion is dead — and that's good!
RELIGION IS DEAD. IT JUST IS. BUT THAT’S OK. IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE. Eugene Peterson points out that religion is like a tree’s bark — it’s the dead part of the tree. But the bark is […]
Kim Davis & when faith forces you to lose your job
There’s something appealing to watching a person stick with her convictions and suffer for them. It’s the stuff of inspirational movies about inner city teachers and coaches who turn around losing teams and such. And […]
Learning your neighbor's language
I lived in Canada for five years. It’s a beautiful and friendly country that I am extremely fond of. But never during those five years did I forget that I was in a foreign country. […]
Tom Brady, cheating, and forgiveness
So, Tom Brady got away with cheating. At least, that’s how all but New England Patriots fans see things. It doesn’t matter that he didn’t need to have his personally selected footballs deflated in order […]
The wisdom of worship
The Psalms is a wonderfully diverse compilation of Israel’s praise. It gathers glorious creation hymns and salvation thanksgivings together with a heaping pile of laments. And scattered throughout this sprawling mixtape are bits of what is […]
Everything that has breath — the goal of worship
What does worship look like? What does it sound like? Where does it get done? Who gets included? And what is the purpose of it all anyway? As the Psalms conclude, they do so with […]
Among quarreling neighbors
One Sunday we came back from worship to discover that one of our neighbors had torn down the short fence between our properties and replaced it with a taller, uglier fence. There had been no warning. […]
Moving from can’t … to Can-ada
Gotta love that can-do country!