John 13:31-35

As Christians, we are called to be BIG. Big beyond our own maturity and big beyond our years. We do not represent ourselves; we represent Christ. So when our politics, bumper stickers, words, posts, and actions are filled with vitriol, our neighbors do not see us as the carriers of this ugliness. Instead, they see Christ. The heart of an authentic Christian faith doesn’t drive us toward the denigration of our enemies. It drives us towards the love of them. So we call ourselves Christian? There’s only one way to live it.

Mark 6:45-52

FEAR - News outlets know it, the politicians wield and flaunt it, and the media propagates it. Fear gets us all talking, pointing, shouting, Facebooking, and Tweeting. Christians themselves go apoplectic over it, but we have NO excuse. Our God, the God who raises the dead, is the one who deconstructs even death itself…the same God who instructs through the Scriptures, the prophets, and through His Son – “Be not afraid!” In an election year, and perhaps in any year, THE most important spiritual discipline may be that of deconstructing our own fear. In the face of those emails propagating fear, of those Facebook feeds posting fear, and of those sitting in coffee shops gossiping over it, to bring faith in a living God who invites us over and over again to shed our fear might just be the most freeing thing ever.

Luke 13:31-35

I know that it’s easy to point at people, to criticize their worldview, to put their lives under a microscope, and to see that they are wanting. Paul asks us to look deeper than the lives of the flesh and blood people before us. You see, there is a deeper fight, a darker reality, that is the real enemy; you won’t beat this darkness with the vote you cast. This one you must confront with prayer, with the Gospel of peace, and the breastplate of righteousness. Flesh and blood can be overcome with weapons of war, but the real fight will not be won with these tools, so put them away and get on your knees. Meditate on the Gospel, and pray for the shalom of God to come on all flesh. In this way, you will join the army of the Lord whose victory has already been claimed in the cross and resurrection of Jesus, the Christ.

Luke 23:26-43

I read things from well-meaning Christians all the time. Things that build elaborate theological around hell and the damnation of God. In all of them, all of them, the cross and the resurrection are omitted – the reality that the judgement of God has already fallen on humankind, and we were found wanting – all of us; God’s response to us isn’t a spear and hammer. God’s response is this Jesus, with arms outstretched, and in the midst of unimaginable pain and rejection, a Jesus who says on our behalf, “Father, forgive them…” The miracle is that it isn’t just Jesus’ plea. It’s our reality. Forgiven. This is incredibly good news!

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

We all have our favorite kinds of candidates and politics, but the truth is, regardless of who is in office, the world turns because there is a God and not because of someone’s politics. This isn’t to say our politics don’t have implications, but it is to say that regardless of who is in office, things are getting done in the context of broken human beings. By the way, this is our story, and it is nothing new. Looking to Deuteronomy here in early Lent we can marvel at God’s faithfulness. Though we revere them, both Abraham and Moses were men with some incredible flaws; yet, God expresses His faithfulness to the human family through them. Let that sink in for a bit. Today the good news is that God will bring about his future because He has promised it. That promise is going to be fulfilled with, and sometimes despite, the broken people that God has to work with. This is simply amazing!

Transfiguration of Our Lord

Luke 9:28-36

Greater in the Hands of God (Jeremiah 1:4-10)

As a pastor, I hear people belittle themselves all the time; I’m just an engineer; I’m just a teacher; I’m just a child; I’m retired now and out of the loop. You get the picture. The story from Jeremiah beckons us to remember that it is God and God’s call that gives us purpose. We are ALL magnificent in God, not because we have IT, but because God has US!

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

In my childhood home, my mom used to hang prisms in the large picture window in the living room. I remember sitting in that space, meditating on how a simple piece of glass could disclose the truth of light…that it isn’t just multi-faceted…it’s multi-colored and oh so much more beautiful than any of us would otherwise know. The church at it’s best is held together by one God…but as the church lives out the life of that God in the world, the beauty of the church herself is disclosed, and her multi-colored and multi-faceted light becomes evident in the embarrassment of gifts that emerge and thrive in the body. Lord God we pray, that as you shine through us your church, the world would be illuminated by your beauty, and your people would be disclosed for the beauty of their gifts. 

Fiery Water!​ 

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

"He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” We put so much emphasis on the water baptisms at the beginning of our Christian journeys, stylized perhaps a bit too much like the water baptism offered by John, but John himself tells others that Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. What does this mean? The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God the Father and his Son, the crucified and risen one. It is the Spirit of the very reality of the kingdom of God. It is the Spirit of the future where the world is put to rights. It is this Spirit that drives us into a relationship with this God and this God’s future. As it does so, the heat of that future sanctifies and purifies us, and drives all that does not reflect that truth from us.

Where Wisdom Lives (Sirach 24:1-12 and John 1:1-18)

Often overlooked, wisdom has been associated with Christ for millennia. Wisdom itself is interesting: often thought of as a synonym for knowledge, it isn’t in fact knowing. Wisdom is understanding about how life lives and works. It is an awareness of how the universe leaps and dances to the rhythms of the heartbeat of God. We have become excellent in the West, through the rational use of our minds, with regards to knowing about the world; perhaps what the world needs today is a little less knowledge, and a little more wisdom. After all, as John teaches, through wisdom (e.g. Christ), all things are created.