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 laundry commercials tell us about something called nose blind – where we smell a smell so often we get used to it and cease to be able to detect or describe it no matter how odorous. Self-examination invites us to consider the possibility of what we…

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 of “wilderness.” And though Satan was in the wilderness with the wild beasts, so were angel companions. God’s nearness, more often than not, doesn’t eradicate hardship, it uses it for some new faithful resolve. Did you notice after the arrest of Jesus’ cousin…

Before St. Paul begins his best-known chapter – the one about love, 1 Corinthians 13 – he finishes the 12th chapter with this, “I will show you a more excellent way.” Given all of the division and vitriol that has become a normalized part of life, we might need to pause and ask ourselves a couple of questions, do I really believe that love is the more excellent way? And if we really do, what is love’s cost for me right now? The people many of us venerate from Jesus…

Whether we’re meeting God for the first time or the eighty-second time there’s a reliable rendezvous available to us. It’s at the intersection of our failing strength, fraying faith, and God’s understanding and power. This crossroad is where God infuses our expiring lives with God’s everlasting-ness; our perpetual weariness with God’s never weariness. This is God’s pattern, to bless us in a place and fashion where we could not boast in anything but God. There’s a rare honesty with God and ourselves that comes with desperation! Somehow, that honesty gets…

As Jesus teaches in the synagogue he is interrupted by a man with an “unclean spirit.” When we see those two words in scripture it means a demonic spirit. A spirit that is not love. A spirit that opposes God. A spirit that harms the community and the host. Unclean spirits have infected the church and the nation. How could Jesus of Nazareth endorse any individual or group that accepts and supports people wearing clothing that says, “6MWE” Six million wasn’t enough” in reference to the Holocaust? How could Jesus…

Simon and Andrew “immediately” dropped their net and joined Jesus’ friend making campaign. To my mind, either Jesus was exceedingly compelling, or their discontent with their occupation was peaking or both? Sometimes we can think of these bible stories in too pristine a way to be of good use. Life has so much grey. Life has so much of both. COVID has allowed many of us the space to acknowledge that we weren’t in love with our previous routine anyway. It’s just that the “sounds of our own wheels” drowned…

“Hello Darling Today I find myself a long way from you and the children. I am at the State Prison in Reidsville which is about 230 miles from Atlanta. They picked me up from the DeKalb jail about 4 ’0 clock this morning. I know this whole experience is very difficult for you to adjust to, especially in your condition of pregnancy, but as I said to you yesterday this is the cross that we must bear for the freedom of our people. So I urge you to be strong…

Be like the wise men who brought Jesus gifts this year.  1. Follow your star. Where is the star of your heart leading you? Yes, I know COVID has complicated everything but really, follow your star. 2. Take a journey. Even if it is virtual, go somewhere new. We are meant for new. New learning. New friendships. New ideas. 3. Ask your questions. Jesus’ birth prompted questions from everyone. What is your question? So often God is nudging us through the questions that live softly and persistently in our spirit….

As we say goodbye to 2020 and face 2021 there’s much to grieve and to give thanks for. When I consider where we have been and where we might be headed as a world, nation, and church, the biblical idea of wilderness helps me make sense of things. Wilderness throughout scripture is both that place of desolation and divine intervention. As we face what many have labeled as ‘a wilderness time in our country,’ let me say to you, don’t lose heart! Remember, God is a wilderness God and God…