How can we become better listeners? What if the church's primary role is to translate shalom - peace, wholeness, well-being - into the home languages of all people? How can we avoid using our words to dominate and instead use them to heal?

What if the Gospel is primarily about solidarity? About realizing our interdependence and connectedness? About expanding the category of "us" and shrinking the category of "them?"

The healing of the man by the pool in John 5 isn’t as easy and straight forward as it seems. It does, however, force us to ask questions about what happens when things change in our lives. What does it mean to get up, take our mats, walk, and look back on the way things used to be?

How can we better live into the narrative arc of Scripture? How can we recapture the goodness of creation? How can we seek the expansiveness of a progressive love? What would it look like to make Earth look a little bit more like heaven?

What does it look like to view God as Shepherd and King in our lives? In what ways should we follow the voice of the Shepherd in our lives, politically and spiritually? How can we live more as citizens of an heavenly alternative here and now? What would it look like if we actually followed the teachings of Jesus, regardless of the cost?

This Easter season, what would it look like for our faith to be completely new, not just a dressed up version of what we received? What if we are exactly where we are supposed to be, and God is still with us? What would it look like for us to embrace a new calling and not return to business as usual?

The season of Easter continues on, and so do peoples varied experiences of faith, Jesus, and resurrection. Was Jesus trying to prove something to Thomas or was he trying to make a statement about belief and belonging?

On Easter morning we tend to focus on the way showing up early for Jesus will lead us to a new and resurrected life. But that’s not actually what happened for Mary Magdalene on the first Easter morning. She didn’t ultimately find what she went looking for, something found her.

What do we long for? What are our expectations of God? And what would it mean to have those expectations frustrated? How can we allow our bad versions of religion and faith—even those that have served us well in the past—die, so that something new can emerge?

All the stories that led to the table at Bethany in John 12 contribute to emotional potency of a beautiful aroma that filled a house in the face of death. Even when told it's all a waste, may we recognize the ways our lives add to beautiful and healing moments such as these.