In what feels like a spot on description of life with major depression, Elijah flees into the wilderness and essentially collapses. God sends angels to care for him. Then, in what one of the Bible's best known scenes, Elijah experiences the direct presence of God not in some grand gesture but in stillness and silence. We long for the grand gestures, but so much of how God moves and so much of what we need happen in the midst of the quiet, simple, and mundane.

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Proverbs lyrically declares God wise and personifies that wisdom, but this should lead us to ask the next order question: what is wise? As humans, we often conflate complexity and wisdom, when if fact, the wisest answers are often deceptively simple and elegant.  

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The story of God's people is a never ending relay race, where one generation passes the baton to the next in an unbroken chain. The Holy Spirit continually moving in people is what facilitates that. In the story of Pentecost, we celebrate the arrival of the Holy Spirit, but it just kept going from there. We can struggle to believe it sometimes, but the Holy Spirit will always keep things moving along.

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We are promised by Jesus that God, in the form of the Holy Spirit will continue with us as our guide and advocate. However, there is a fair corollary question to that we don't answer often enough - how exactly does that work? People often talk of feelings or mystical experiences, but what if you want desperately to have one of those, and it just ain't happening? The answer is that we should look around, listening the people around us not just for a voice on the wind, and recognize that a lot of God's work happens in community.

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Peter really thought that he understood how God worked. Even after Jesus's earthly ministry, he thought that some things remained true. Specifically, Gentiles were still on the outside of what God was doing. Then, all of sudden, God tells Peter that it's otherwise and then directly demonstrates in no uncertain terms that Gentiles can receive the power of the Holy Spirit. Peter then sets a great example for us. He rolls with it. He's totally surprised, but he sees the movement of God and keeps moving with it.

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The Book of Revelation has a fearsome reputation. Thus, it gets avoided consistently by most folks not interested in the End Times Industrial Complex. It will get shouted at you by very sweaty people with an ax to grind and world to end, but it seldom gets calm consideration as a piece of Scripture. It's actually a story of hope, of hanging in there, and of God's inevitable victory. It's also a work that shows that world won't look right until God's victory gets cemented. So, if you look at the world and see a thing that doesn't look right and need a source of hope, Revelation is literally the book for you!

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A lot of people suffer from an internal perfectionism that we then project on to God. Yes, God cares deeply about how we behave. Yes. God sets standards and does expect us to rise to them. However, when we see Jesus encounter a well meaning follower, Peter, who screws up royally, Jesus offers Peter a way back. Jesus doesn't ignore what Peter did, but Jesus also doesn't damn or reject Peter for it. Peter gets an offer of grace, love, and opportunity to grow.

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More often than not, responsible consideration ends up saying, "This scripture isn't about you!" Or, at least, you might be able to gain something from this scripture, but you were not its original or primary audience. The story of Doubting Thomas (or more accurately Late to the Meeting Thomas) is absolutely about you. It's about anyone who tries to find faith in an era, when you can't just stick your hands into Jesus's sick scars. It's a story about how all belief is a journey, and one that was easier for the Apostles than for us. Jesus knows that and is here with you all the way.

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Easter is Christianity's highest of the high holy days. Jesus rose from the dead, and reality shifted on its axis. At the heart of the entire Holy Week journey is God tipping God's hand about how God approaches humanity. Despite a never ending series of disappointments, stretching back through time and stretching into the future, God choose to make love us God's first priority.

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Jesus has one more night to try and drive home what he needs his disciples to know before everything gets blown into chaos. He has to make his point about what it really means to be him and to be a follower of him. The stakes at the Last Supper are weirdly high. Jesus knows what's coming. Judas has made his choice. The wheels are in motion. So, Jesus takes off his outer robe, kneels down at before each of his disciples, and washes their feet. It was always about love and coming to serve. Jesus sets that example for us all to follow.

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