God uses the wilderness to give you a clarity about who you are and whose you are. It's a clarity that often eludes us in abundance and comfort. That's Jesus’ story. He was in the wilderness. That was hard. He was interrogated by the devil there and in a weakened...

Jesus went up a mountain to pray. This simple practice gave Jesus all the clarity and connection he needed to face evil, find and carry out his purpose and even face death unafraid. So what is prayer? In our tradition, “prayer is responding to God, by thought and...

We continue to struggle to speak of and learn from our history. Increasingly, states and jurisdictions are banning the study of and conversations about slavery and the holocaust. At this pace, one wonders will we also ban conversations of woman’s suffrage? The...

Each follower of Jesus remembers a “once.” That is, that first day, or unforgettable situation when the trustworthiness of God became crystal clear. The crowd wanted words from Jesus, he gave a few. But, no words he gave that day were more spectacular than, “leave the...

We were made by a free God for freedom. The bible tells us that God is on a search and rescue mission for God's beloved human family. Overturning anything that would limit, ensnare and dominate us is what God delights to do. The world with all its beautiful stuff...

At most weddings, we quote St. Paul, “love is patient, love is kind, love does not insist on its own way.” We swoon so much at those words we miss the punch line at the end of the chapter, “…put to an end childish ways!”. In other words, grow up! If I could give the...

We say of ourselves we are divided. It certainly looks and feels that way most days. What can being church mean at times like these? It means when the world says division, we say “body.” St. Paul gives us that word and image to understand how we ought to live with one...

“One day we will have to stand before the God of history and we will talk in terms of things we’ve done. Yes, we will be able to say we built gargantuan bridges to span the seas, we built gigantic buildings to kiss the skies. Yes, we made our submarines to penetrate...

Remember the starry night, the camels, and the three curious travelers? Remember the question that launched them? “Where is the child?” It’s a good question to lead us into 2022. Life with God is an adventure, at least it should be - a seeking, finding, offering our...

“ You remember the Defiant Ones, the two convicts shackled to one another escape and fall into a ditch of dirty water, and one of them almost made it to the top, but can’t because his mate is still down there, and he’s shackled to him, and he slithers down. The only...