The Center Holds
The word Easter is shorthand for God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. That simple incredible claim is the center of our Christian hope. It’s the center because it reminds us who God is, who we are and that God’s future will prevail despite every refusal and...
Crucifixion
“Crucifixion ain’t no fiction,” said a 90’s rap group. As followers of Jesus, we agree. The Crucifixion of a man named Jesus from Nazareth is a historical fact. It was the public lynching of a man who stood at the intersection of politics and religion and spoke of God...
Toward Joy
If happiness is lavender, then joy has to be purple. Why purple? Because you make purple out of red and blue. Love and sorrow. Joy lives at that intersection of heartbreak and ecstasy. Joy doesn’t live alone; she has four roommates, faith, hope, wonder and gratitude....
Standing
How we stand for truth has everything to do with the truth we stand for. For us, the most true thing in the universe is God! With the most true thing about God being that “God is love.” We know that it’s impossible to actually love God without loving...
Love and Hate
Putting Jesus at the center of your life is learning how to love as God loves, which involves a willingness to sacrifice our preferred ways and outcomes in favor of Jesus’ way and his preferred outcomes. Spiritually, we haven’t grown up until we want God’s way more...
When God is Silent
What to do when God is silent, goes the question. But maybe what is really being said here is, ‘God is not speaking to me in a fashion that is convenient or dramatic enough to address my anxieties and hardships.’ Being the anxious creatures that we are, we might be...
Self-Examination
Self-examination means we pause and check-in with our soul. And we ask our soul two questions: What are my patterns? And, do they increase well-being? Ultimately the practice of self-examination is a gift because it moves us from blindness to gaining new sight. Recent...
Near
God being near is how it all gets started and is sustained. God was near to Jesus at his baptism, near enough to whisper the words “beloved” and the affirmation “pleased.” God wanted new nearness to Jesus so God directed him through Spirit to the soul-making crucible...