Scripture: Luke 9:28-43 Three disciples have a mountaintop experience with Jesus as the Son of God… but what makes it a “Jesus Experience” is that he returns to offer healing to another son, and another father. How do we do the same so that “high” church meetings actually show Jesus’s ministry and life?

Scripture: Luke 6:27-38 We ponder “The Golden Rule” in Luke’s gospel, how Jesus invites us to make foolish the oppression of empire and tyrants, and what favorite Harry Potter spell might free us from the quagmire and cycle of violence.

Scripture: Luke 6:17-26 Jesus begins a sermon on a “level place” by inverting the heights and depths of the world around him, showing the blessing available to all, and the woe of those who seek “safety” in the heights of separation from others. In a sermon in which Jesus is so direct about the challenges […]

Scripture: Luke 5:1-11 Jesus calls fishers into ministry that is full of life, but carries risk and tenderness. In a long history of prophets, can we say out loud the excuses we would love to use, but instead finally overcome them with love?

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 A letter to a church invites them to ground everything they do in love… which is harder than it sounds, and invites us to imagine a “mindfulness of love” in all our work and witness.

Scripture: Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 We celebrate the Baptism of Jesus, recognizing that it does not promise us still waters, but it does offer us the promise of our own beloved-ness, that we might bring that reminder to the world…

Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12 The Feast of Epiphany arrives with wise ones “from away” inviting us to ponder how we encounter the holiness of other traditions and other travelers, living into the deep mystery of what Christ’s incarnation means for us as Christians, and for our relationships with all creation.

Scripture: Luke 2:41-52, Colossians 3:12-17 It’s Christmas-tide, and so we get a rare story of Jesus growing up, and wonder how he learned to be himself, and to hear God’s call on his life. Identity development and deepening never truly stops, though, and like the ancient church at Colossae, we wonder how we might try on new […]

Christmas Eve Reflection 2018There is a song we sing on this Holy Night of Christmas that is not quite like the others. This year “Silent Night” is 200 years old, but it remains a part of our traditions and our cosmic telling of the Christ-child’s birth because it connects us to a tender moment of […]

Scripture: Jeremiah 33:14-16 We join with the prophet Jeremiah in Advent songs of hope which tell of God’s planting of seeds which we believe come to bloom in Jesus. In a season of feeling buried by concerns for those seeking refuge in times of trial, we are glad to be reminded that is exactly how […]