How do we mark or memorialize loss...

One place that I enjoy visiting is the Art Institute. For those of us who bathe in words day after day, it helps open my mind to imagination and plurality. How one person views a work of art can be markedly different from another. Shading, color, perspective, medium, and the viewer’s state of mind all impact the experience...

My boyfriend grew up as a Unitarian Universalist. So, there are many things he does not understand about Christianity. One day he said, “I don’t understand Christians. You’re always talking about sin, what you did wrong, and you all seem so…sad.” Now, I’d like to think that’s not the case, and I like to emphasize the life-giving aspects of Christianity. But, when many of our members tell me how much they like the season of Lent, it’s hard to argue with my boyfriend. And, today’s gospel reading doesn’t help my argument either. After all, Luke writes, “…unless you repent, you will all perish…” and, in the parable, if the fig tree isn’t producing fruit then “buh bye.” But, we won’t tell Alex about today’s reading...

“We are the only species who cooks, and when we learned to cook is when we became truly human.” Michael Pollan begins Netflix series Cooked in a similar way to how he begins his book. Cooked is a four-part series where Pollan takes food enthusiasts, lovers of sociology, anthropology or all of the above back to the origins of the cooking. He bases each episode around one of the four great transformations of cooking, which line up with the four elements of nature: Fire, Water, Air, and Earth...

Every year on the first Sunday in Lent, we read a story about Jesus’s temptation. This year, we get it from Luke’s perspective which is a bit different than Matthew and Mark. In today’s reading, like in Matthew, we witnessed a conversation of sorts between the devil and Jesus. Now to be clear, the devil is a personified version of all that draws us from the ideals of God. We’re not talking about a physical being with a pitchfork and horns, right...

"Do you remember what you were doing on December 31, 1999? I was at home with my parents and my sister. Some of our neighbors came over, too. I was also in the 5th grade, so the sparkling cider was flowing and there’s a real chance I wasn’t actually up until midnight..."

Friends, it may feel like an ending but our God reminds us it’s the beginning of something new. It’s the beginning of our call to live out our baptism. It’s a beginning that recalls God’s love as God suffered by the hands of a world that couldn’t acknowledge truth. It’s the beginning of a story where we, as people of faith, walk together as pilgrims – where we journey into a world to bring a new reality built on God’s justice, peace, and love. Indeed, it’s only the beginning....

Sometimes, I think we know these things happen around us, we can see that brokenness exists, but we also find ourselves saying, “That’s just the way it is.” “The system isn’t perfect, but what’s the alternative....?”

In today’s gospel reading, those whom Jesus spoke to in the temple were quickly offended and responded much like an entitled child. They said, “Do you know who you’re talking to? We are Abraham’s children, and we were never slaves.” But, Jesus knows that this response is from the book of “alternative facts.” The truth is that Abraham’s children were enslaved a number of times. The most well-known time was by the Egyptians. Their freedom came from God after Moses led the exodus, which included plagues, the Passover, and a pillar fire. It is the central story of Judaism, and so, it’s a little odd that those gathered in the temple weren’t aware. And, Jesus could have gone on to mention their long history of being ruled by the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians. He could’ve pointed to their current occupation by Rome. But, Jesus knew that sometimes truth is suppressed, ignored, or forgotten...

“Honestly, its not for everyone” is the new state motto for…?? Nebraska! When I heard that on Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me this weekend I was cracking up. Being someone who is about to be assigned somewhere in this country for my first call as a pastor, imagining all the places that could possibly be, and continually hearing how much places like Nebraska need pastors, I really appreciate the angle they’re taking with this new slogan...