Soon, Pod Be With You will come to you both from FCC Dundee and the Congregational Church of Batavia. This is because Pastor Paige has accepted a call to be Batavia's next pastor - and while we're sad for us, we're happy for her. Here, we discuss all of it together: gratitude and grief, excitement and loss, beginnings and endings. 

Here in his letter to the church at Philippi, the Apostle Paul encourages the member to live in unity together, as they are one in the Body of Christ. How are they to do this? Through the self-emptying love modelled by Jesus in his life, death, and resurrection.

Years ago, I took a beginning pottery class. It was fun, and frustrating, and I learned a lot about the art and patience. This experience gave me interesting insight into the Biblical metaphor of God as a potter.

Fear is a normal part of the human experience. But God is there, with outstretched hand, to calm our fear. Can we do the same for others?

What if the grace of God was so radical we resented it? What if it was so wonderful we found ourselves willing to reject it? How can the love of God be unfair? And what if we were willing to cling to our ideas of fairness, even at the expense of grace? That's a lot for a story about day laborers, but here it is!

For a minute, I let my inner crabby old man out for a rant about Fantasy Football. Which isn't about Fantasy Football at all, really, but about all those trivial things that take our time, money, and attention. Because that's where discipleship starts: attention. 

Paul, ever the pastor, tries to counsel a community struggling to live faithfully amidst difference. Sound familiar? He challenges them to both hold fast to their convictions and to honor those of others - all in the name of loving relationship. 

The calls that change us come from within and without. And often enough, they come, not in miracle or majesty, but in everyday, small, insistent signs. Are you listening? 

We are always led by something; to be a disciple is to choose what - or who - that is. And that may mean saying no to some things that keep us from our greatest "Yes." 

Love is the summary, fulfilment, and source of the law, Paul says (sounding a lot like Jesus as he does). And if we want a way forward, here it is, over thousands of years: love your neighbor as yourself. Can we lead and love this way?