It can all be so exhausting: life, livelihood, striving, even spirituality with its laundry list of how to be. Maybe that’s why Psalm 130 is one of my favorites. The poet seems to want one thing, to enjoy God! When last did you just enjoy God? The fact of God? The way God chooses to be God as made clear in Jesus’ doings and sayings? Psalm 130 invites you to breathe and put your shoulders down as it hums to you, there’s no place too deep for God to reach…

Jesus of Nazareth was dispatched to us by God as God because loves the world. Because of that act, Jesus is peerless when it comes to name recognition. From the beginning, groups have used Jesus’ name with little allegiance to his Name. I call them Jesus but Not Jesus clubs! Jesus but Not Jesus clubs (JBNJC) can be churches or Christian associations but will bear little resemblance to the founder of the movement. The physical structures where they gather might bear Jesus’ likeness or a Cross, but reliance in his…

The Holy Spirit is: life-giver, gift, helper, indweller, fire, wind-like, teacher, wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, power, freedom, truth, hope, belonging, giver of favor, fellowship increaser, healer, reconciler, hovering creator, forever friend, revealer, renewer, whisperer, proclaimer, boldness maker, shame eradicator, sin striver, love pourer, the declarer of futures, anointer, marriage counselor, love refiner, maker of faithfulness, strengthener of the weak, courage for the fearful, giver of dreams, giver of visions, genesis of a second birth, demon evictor, soul clothier, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, fortitude, piety,…

Being blessed isn’t a magical idea. In large part, it’s about tapping into the power grid that God has graciously arranged for all of us to enjoy. Nowhere is this clearer than in the poetry of Psalm 1. There the poet introduces some to and refreshes others with directions to blessedness. Blessedness is as simple as remembering from whom not to get advice or hang out with or not getting comfortable with scornfulness, quite a task these days. Being blessed is about what delights you. The poet tells us that…

To be a servant of God and neighbor is what Jesus holds up for us, until today. According to Jesus, “…servants don’t know what the Master is doing.” But now, “I have told you everything,” Jesus says. That means we are now his “friends.” Being friends with Jesus changes everything. It moves us from obedience, as necessary and honorable as that is, into a shared-ness with Jesus. Being friends is about mutual compassion and shared responsibility. Being friends is about not needing to be browbeat, shamed or threatened into behavior….

“Breaking news: Jesus speaks life from the garden.” That would be the headline if the Gospel read like The New York Times or The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Sometimes Rabbi, sometimes wonder-worker, Jesus of Nazareth convenes a small gathering of day laborers and poor people to share God’s plan for the human family. In rich and metaphorical language, Jesus, friend of the downtrodden, shared directions on how to have a fruitful life. In spiraling language, Jesus calls God a “vine grower” and himself “the vine.” Jesus, who often speaks of unique intimacy…

Easter isn’t the absence of valleys in life, it’s the presence of hope despite the “shadow of death” in the valley. We get this reminder over and over again in the Bible because weariness and despair hunt us in the valleys of life. And because soul-strengthening faith is made in the valleys of life, not the mountain tops. Indeed, God does God’s best work in the valleys. By definition, “Valleys are depressed areas of land–scoured and washed out by the conspiring forces of gravity, water, and ice.” America feels like…

The first thing Jesus does when he’s raised from the dead, is find his friends behind locked doors in fear and offer “Peace.” Peace, not the absence of hardship, but the presence of liberation. He shows his wounds to his friends. What a defiant act. He bears no shame because of his wounds. He’s liberated, so his wounds are a part of who he is, not all of who he is. And then just like Harriett Tubman, the liberated Jesus shares the coordinates to freedom with his friends. “As I…

The first thing Jesus does when he’s raised from the dead, is find his friends behind locked doors in fear and offer “Peace.” Peace, not the absence of hardship, but the presence of liberation. He shows his wounds to his friends. What a defiant act. He bears no shame because of his wounds. He’s liberated, so his wounds are a part of who he is, not all of who he is. And then just like Harriett Tubman, the liberated Jesus shares the coordinates to freedom with his friends. “As I…