Most folks have a God story. Most are reluctant to tell theirs for fear of seeming weak-minded or childish. Yet, we have them. The Resurrection of Jesus is a God story. It will never be more than that. It will always shake hands with doubt. Still, that God did the impossible dances around us like butterflies around a flower. All my God stories have the same fragrance as the Resurrection: God refuses to be dismissed. God forgives our rejection. God reconciles us to ourself and others. God gives us a…

He lost all his wealth. His children were murdered. His marriage was broken. His friends were enemies. In a desolate season of life Job said, “I know my Redeemer lives….” It would have been easier for him to say: “I’m suffering. All I know is pain. I’m forsaken. God is absent, deaf or dead.” What do you say in the middle of life’s tragic seasons? Can’t say I have been like Job every time. But, I want to be. How about you? Every time God guides us through a difficult…

“Somehow Isaiah hears God pose a two-part question. ‘Whom shall I send and who will go for us?’ In that moment, Isaiah consents to a partnership with God. A partnership that has always been available to him. But now, because grief and grace have conspired in a particular way, Isaiah says yes to God living at the center of his altar at the heart of his inward sea. If ordination is anything, ordination needs to be that, an interrogation of the inward altar and the most genuine consent we can…

Faith is many things, but at its base, it’s consent. And, consent is agreement and actualization. It’s more impactful to understand faith in this way than faith being simply intellectual assent to the likelihood of God’s existence or denominational affiliation. Agreement and actualization are about our relationship with a true and living God. It’s about who God has been and what God has promised to be and do. Consent is about offering our “inner authority” and the “fluid area of our consent” to the only One who is worthy of…

“The concern which I lay bare before You today is: Whatever disaffection there is between me and those who are or have been very close to me— I would seek the root or cause of such disaffection, and with the illumination of Your mind, O God, to understand it. I give myself to Your scrutiny that, whatever there may be in me that is responsible for what has happened, I will acknowledge. Where I have wronged or given offense deliberately or without intention, I seek a face-to-face forgiveness. What I…

Many preachers are scared of John the Baptist so they dither about with what he ate or what he wore rather than what he did. What he did was to co-create moments with God so hearts could change. What he did was refuse to placate people or reduce to pablum the notion of true repentance. What he did was model the freedom that comes uniquely by the Spirit. John scared the clergy then and he scares the clergy now. It is easier to mock him as a zealot than be…

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,…