The Passion describes something commonplace and unique in history. It’s something that has changed the course of history. It’s still changing us. It exposes a truth we would kill rather than recognize. And that truth saved us from ourselves and still does.
Preconceived notions and rigid interpretations can blind people to God’s work. Be open to seeing God in unexpected forms, such as mud and mess, and be surprised by God’s creative action
Over the next few weeks, including this weekend, my calendar is such that, between travel and other commitments, I’m not going to be able to keep my weekly sermon posting schedule. I’m sorry about that. And extra sorry that this weekend I don’t have a sermon from three years ago to share instead. But I see that one of my favorite preachers, Andrew Gerns, has already posted his sermon for this weekend. Here’s a taste: […]
Nicodemus came with genuine questions about what God was doing, even when the answers were confusing and incomplete. That orientation — toward discernment rather than recruitment — is what distinguishes faith from politics, even when they are standing in the same room.
The wounds from trauma, from broken institutions, from years wandering in cultural and spiritual wilderness - those are brought to the refiner’s fire not to be forgotten but to be transformed.
The Transfiguration reminds us: the voices worth listening to are often the ones being dismissed. Throughout Scripture, God's people repeatedly misunderstand what God is doing. And in our own time? We see this same pattern. We divide over worship styles, over politics, over who's in and who's out, while the prophetic call to care for the vulnerable, to seek justice, to practice mercy gets drowned out by certainty and self-righteousness.
Jesus is saying something challenging: the community he's building doesn't operate on the logic of retaliation. It breaks cycles instead of perpetuating them.
Jesus describes a world where the poor are lifted up, the mourners are comforted, the peacemakers are honored, and those who suffer for righteousness are named as blessed. Micah describes a people shaped by justice, kindness, and humble faithfulness. Both texts point toward a way of life that runs directly against the grain of the principalities and powers of this world. The message of the Cross is that this way of life — this way […]
We are never really ready to respond when God appears in our life and calls us to action. And that doesn't seem to matter. What matters is trusting that God will supply what we lack as we respond in faith to what God expects.
[…] How does the sacrifice of one, the offering of the Lamb, create a community, a movement, a new world? I think a glimpse of an answer comes from one of America’s great philosophers of the early twentieth century: Josiah Royce. Josiah Royce (1855–1916) was an American philosopher associated with absolute idealism, best known for his work on loyalty, community, and the moral meaning of shared life. He wrote in the late nineteenth and early […]
