Human for a Reason (Luke 2:41-52)

The doctrine of the Incarnation beckons to us to take the real humanity of Jesus seriously:. In Jesus, God isn’t -putting on a skin so that he seems human. Jesus is truly and fully human. So when we hear in this particular story that “Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor,” we need to understand that Jesus himself developed! This isn’t a denial of Jesus’ ultimate divinity. It’s an affirmation of our humanity.

God is...birthing (Luke 2:1-20)

This may be harder to swallow than anything else we purport as Christians. In some respects, a resurrection is easier to swallow than the notion that God reveals God’s-self through the birth of a baby; it comes down to this:  God IS doing something, and it isn't just a metaphor, or poetic, or parable. It is as real and as concrete as a crying baby in a world that refuses to make space for him.

Luke 1:39-55

In-spire - to put Spirit in! When God inspires, it has to do with giving those who are bearers of God’s news a vision of the world that’s coming, and that the one that’s coming is much better than the one we currently inhabit. God takes the time to inspire us because He knows that the journey we are on takes energy and courage, and to make our way, we will need His very breath/spirit of God!

We know we’ve been taught to fear God’s winnowing fork. What if it is exactly what we need? We are all wheat and chaff. It’s time for us to long for the day that is surely coming when the chaff is burned away altogether.

I wonder:  why are preparations even necessary? Isn’t time of the essence? And yet our God takes God’s time. Which means that just maybe, God finds incredible meaning not just in the outcome, but in the process. So while we are so eager for the end of things, I wonder what we might be missing in the preparations? Perhaps that’s the point of Advent - we discover God isn’t just at the end. God’s in the journey as well.

Thanksgiving 2015

Love People - One of the Three Core Purposes of the Church

Matthew 22:34-40

Love People - One of the Three Core Purposes of the Church

Matthew 22:34-40

Love God - One of the Three Core Purposes of the Church

Mark 12:​28-34

The Shoulders We Stand On (All Saints)

John 11:32-44