The Woodlands: A Place for Exploring the Spiritual Life

In this episode, Bishop Jake offers a pastoral reflection on the moral tensions of our troubled times. Drawing on the Nuremberg Trials and the teachings of Jesus, he explores what it means to follow Christ when law and conscience collide — and how Christians seek the way of love in unsettled days.

In life’s most important things, we rarely know where we’re headed until we’ve already stepped out. Love works that way—and so does faith.

In this reflection, we return to the moment Jesus calls his first followers and discover that faith is not about certainty or control, but about being drawn by love into a life we could not have planned. As we follow Jesus, the way does not appear all at once. It unfolds, step by step, as love leads us forward.

What if your calling isn’t something you find, but someone you become?This Epiphany reflection explores the Christian calling to become our true selves by loving what God loves. Drawing on Jesus’ calling of Peter, it shows how ordinary lives can become places where God’s light is revealed.

We all carry a deep longing—an ache for wholeness that nothing in this world quite satisfies. In this Christmas reflection, I tell a childhood story and explore how the Incarnation meets that longing. Christmas isn’t just a date on the calendar. It’s God coming toward us, making us whole in ways we could never manage on our own.

Today’s reflection is the fourth and final installment of the Advent series called God Draws Near.

Today’s reflection is part three of the four-part Advent series called God Draws Near. You can read or listen to the first and second parts on Substack.

Today’s reflection is called You Are Preapproved. It's part two of the four-part Advent series called God Draws Near. You can read or listen to the first part on Substack. The Woodlands is also available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

This week we’re starting a four-part Advent series: God Draws Near.

We’ll be talking about how God never waits for a perfect moment to show up. God is present now. When we learn to notice that presence—and trust it—it steadies us, transforms us, and leads us forward one faithful step at a time.

Today we’re on Part One: A Sense of an Ending

Part 4 of the 4-part series The Heart of Things: Love and the Life of the World.

Part 3 of the 4-part series The Heart of Things: Love and the Life of the World.