07 Feb, 2022
I truly enjoy the story of the wedding at Cana found in John 2. We see Jesus in a little more of a human light as his mother orders him around, just like all mothers everywhere do. I picture his friends smirking a little bit when Jesus gets put...
17 Jan, 2022
When I was a student pastor at Trinity-Pilgrim UMC in Brookfield, there was an older woman there who loved Jesus. I mean really LOVED Jesus. She literally (as the old hymn says) walked with him and talked with him and knew him personally. And,...
10 Jan, 2022
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all art and science. [The one] to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; [their] eyes are...
20 Dec, 2021
Have you noticed that people were putting on their outside Christmas lights a lot earlier this year? Light way before Thanksgiving! Maybe we can blame it on the warm weather, but I think is has to do with how much we are subconsciously craving...
13 Dec, 2021
Hope… we honestly can’t live without it. Hope is not wishful thinking or fantasy. It is a sincere belief that something good can happen or that things truly can change for the better. Without hope, people lose their will to live. Joy is...
06 Dec, 2021
In Isaiah 61, Isaiah proclaims that he has been anointed by Yahweh to bring good news to the poor, to heal broken hearts and to proclaim a year of God’s favor. Isaiah spoke these words to the exiled people of Israel living in Babylon, promising...
29 Nov, 2021
Let me begin by saying that this parable of the wise and foolish wedding attendants and their oil (Matthew 25:1-13) is not one of my favorites. In fact, the scholars from the Jesus Seminar lean toward this not being an authentic Jesus parable,...
22 Nov, 2021
Nan Merrill’s translation of Psalm 100: 4 invites us to “Open the gates of your heart with gratitude and enter Love’s court with praise.” Open the gates of your heart with gratitude… I took this to mean that the act of being grateful is what...
15 Nov, 2021
So, I’ve read Mark 10:35-45 dozens of times in the course of my career, and I’ve always understood that the disciples didn’t quite get the import of all the Jesus was saying in this passage. But it just hit me this week that they weren’t just a...
08 Nov, 2021
Jesus welcoming the children… it’s typically been seen as a sweet little vignette. A perfect Norman Rockwell-esque portrait of Jesus surrounded by smiling, happy kids. But when we look at it that way we completely miss the radical nature of...