Jesus shows us that what is most important is that we give our hearts to God and the rest will follow. In giving our hearts to God, our motivations will be good. We won’t always get it right but in loving God our intentions will be good.

Confirmation Sunday with Rt. Rev. Dr. Glenda Curry.

God gives us fertile soil in which to grow in the rich relationships that we are given as caretakers. Our family and friends, our church, our work relationships, and social groups are all fertile grounds of connection that we are called to nurture. How are we doing with our harvest?

With everything going on today in our lives, I ask you to take a moment and be wholly present here today and bless all of these precious creatures God gave us.  Remove those outside distractions because they will still be there when we are done.  And remember, there is a God who is fully present in all our days and all our moments.  Good and Bad, God is fully present with us.

We can choose to pout and sing songs like, “Nobody loves me, everybody hates me…” and eat the worms of dissatisfaction and

While there must be an effort on our part to seek reconciliation with ourselves and with those whom we have wronged, we are called to recognize our own humanity so that we may seek and serve that same humanity in others.

The goal of the church, of those who belong to the salvific community of Christ, is to embody the holiness of God in life and witness. We do that by being the place of return; an open and inviting place that praises one another for our willingness to return to God—even and especially when that choice is hard.  We don’t go to church to avoid the devil; we go to church to grow in our love of God and one another.

Cross-bearing does not have to mean what it meant for Jesus:  the price is already paid for in his blood. For most of us today, cross-bearing means serving others with compassion. Because all of us are cross-bearers, and all of us are gods’ allies. And, when we take up our cross and faithfully follow Jesus without worldly distractions, we find ourselves resurrected to a new life in many different ways.

God doesn’t perceive us as sinners in need of redemption. He knows us to be his children. Our perception as sinners is a name we give ourselves. And in so doing, we have lost the awareness of who we truly are.

When Jesus doesn’t respond to us in the way we want, what does our pursuit of him look like? Are we willing to accept the miracles he gives and continue to pursue him even when the miracles he gives are not the miracles we expected?