Continuing to Celebrate the Resurrection

The death of Jesus of Nazareth on the cross was agonizing and drawn-out torture, ending with a final cry of anguish as a Roman spear pierced his side and his heart. Because he had accepted without argument the false accusations, the hatred and rage and vicious

Christ in You / You in Christ, Part 4: The Presence of God

The Lord God made an astounding promise to Moses in Exodus 33:
"Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, "I know you by name and you have found favor with me.” If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people." The Lord replied, "My

Christ In You / You in Christ, Part 3: The Holy Spirit

The last two weeks I’ve reminded us both what God says is true about us as his beloved and included children, and that we participate (or not, sometimes) in that reality by our perspective of how we understand that we are ‘in union with Christ’ or ‘in Christ’ and

God's Love for You

I remember my early years, with three older siblings and strict parents, as a curious mix of carefree play and tension. My father worked hard, putting in long hours on his job and often working on holidays for the bonus pay, and not having much patience for me when he was home. My siblings and I were very

"Anything but God"

CS Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, “Human history is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.” Isn’t that a very brief but very accurate description of human history? “The woman was convinced. She saw that

And the Holy Spirit, Too

So many times I’ve wished I had more help in my life, to ditch a bad habit (I’ve had lots of those, and still have some) or just be happier. Although I hope your life is

Idolatry, part 5: The Self

Jesus told us in Mark 12:29-31 that the two great commands are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. That means of course we have to love ourselves. Some of us do that okay, but it’s not always easy to get it right — some not enough, and some too much! Either extreme — insisting on loving ourselves

Idolatry, Part 3: Hubris

The Greeks who wrote their famous tragedies tended to put ‘hubris' as the cause of the main character’s downfall. The Merriam-Webster online dictionary describes it this way: “Typically, overconfidence led the hero to attempt to overstep the boundaries of

Jesus and "All"

When I was in middle school, I had a teacher who was from Oklahoma and had the accent to prove it. One time she mentioned her brother who worked on 'all wells,' and it took us awhile to figure out she meant 'oil wells'! The same kind of misunderstanding can happen when people read the 'all' scriptures in the Bible and assume it means something less than 'all.' And that reading

What's Hiding in There?

The Lovely Joanne and I just purchased a carpet cleaning machine to restore our old carpets a little. We vacuum regularly, with a good vacuum cleaner, so even with the cats, the carpets should be pretty clean. So we thought. You should have seen the amount of dirt and gunk that came out with the cleaner! (Or maybe not...) I expected some, but not that much!

The same can be true in my spiritual life, and yours too. We tend to know some

Following Jesus More, Loving More

On Sunday, I read a tribute about a member of a sister congregation in Ohio, that finished with these words: "He loved the Lord Jesus Christ with all his heart." That's about as good as anyone could write about anyone, I think. That's far above accomplishments, work, golf scores, or anything else I can imagine. That love, responding to God's love for us through Jesus, is what

The Father, Son and Holy Spirit of Love

Something every human wants, is to be loved. No matter how messed up someone has been in life, no matter how discouraged and depressed, that person still wants -- needs, is desperate for -- real love. Love without prior conditions, love without judging first, love that is not taken back when they do something wrong. And theology -- the study of God -- is first and foremost about

Graduation Time!

Congratulations, graduates, wherever you are! Graduation is often called "Commencement" and for good reason: your classes are over, you've passed your exams, and you're starting life in the real world, ready to apply what you've learned. This is a big moment! Even for those of us who graduated many years ago, we remember what an important part of life this is.  --And did you know, there's a similar 'commencement

Campfire Bread and a Piece of Fish

I like food. In that way, at least, I'm like Jesus! Have you read how many times the Gospels show him dining with people? Some asked him questions, some needed forgiveness, and a few just wanted to

Humanity 2.0

Jesus had a habit, after his resurrection, of showing up in a locked room and shocking everybody. Imagine, sitting in a circle with the others, worried that the temple police were going to show up and haul you off, and suddenly there's Jesus, whom you thought was dead, standing

Fifty Years Later

It was 50 years ago today that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. He had been the leader of a peaceful protest movement that had brought to America's conscience, as a whole, the injustice of racial discrimination that so permeated the South. There were others in his day who were less convinced that non-violence was a mandatory method, but he stuck to his principles. When the evening television news showed police in various cities setting dogs

For Holy Saturday

(This is a repeat from 2015. I hope it's a blessing to you.)

We sat in that room all that Sabbath day. We men sat pretty much in silence, scattered around the floor, in shock; not trying to talk, not knowing what to say. The women were huddled together in the corner, sometimes whispering to one another then breaking out into quiet sobbing. Mary

The Fake Snake, or the Real Deal?

If one day you realized you had been living in a fantasy world that you had constructed for yourself, a world that let you be in control but that was going to end badly, would you

The Door Is Open

This time of year, Christians talk a lot about God's forgiveness. But we humans so often think that we need to clean ourselves up of at least some of our sins before we can become 'acceptable enough' that God will forgive us. We're trying to keep our hands on the steering wheel, so to speak, even if we think that what we're doing is just 'repenting harder' so God will

He Did it Because He Loves You

We're only a few weeks away from Easter, the celebration of our Savior's resurrection. But before he could be raised, he died a horrible death: an innocent in the hands of sinners, the Just One killed unjustly, the Sinless One thrown in with criminals, the Ruler of All betrayed by everyone in power in his time. The one who made humanity from dust was laid in the dust for us, the One who breathed life into Adam breathed his last so he could bring eternal life to us all.

He did it 2,000 years ago because he loves you today. As the