“Are you the Expected One, or should we look for another?” John the Baptist’s disciples came wondering if Jesus might bring a deeper rest, or if they should take their expectations elsewhere? The Christmas shopping season is filled with expectations and longings for connection, contentment and joy. We hope Santa leaves us a Lexus with […]
Tag Archives: christianity
“The lands in longing call out your name; the tongues are diff’rent, the prayer the same. With humble spirits can we believe that God is bigger than we conceive? The will of heaven on this earth be done; the day is coming, oh, let it come. With willing spirits, Lord, let us dare to kneel […]
Three summers ago, we woke at 3:30am, packed up our camping gear and hiked out of the Grand Canyon. Following the park ranger’s advice, we left Phantom Ranch by 4am. in order to beat the projected 120 degree temperature. Down in a 7,000 foot canyon it is dark at 4am. Being able to see the […]
In retirement, my notoriously frugal parents went on vacation for many years with equally frugal friends. On their first morning in Florida, the condo’s clock radio began blaring AC-DC at 4:30am. Jarred awake, in unfamiliar terrain, Dad struggled for his glasses, detangled his c-pap and fumbled for the mute button. You should know, my Dad […]
Eight children and eight adults sat along Mount Leconte’s cliff-tops watching the sun receding over the Smokies. It was so spectacularly beautiful. The sun hung full, pale, orange, and low over the Smoky Mountains until meeting the horizon when it squished together and disappeared. A thousand fading streams of lilac and gold slowly turned to […]
There are twelve chapters of context before we get to the pinnacle of the Apostle Paul’s writing, 1 Corinthians 13. Paul, along with Priscilla and Aquila, worked in Corinth for at least 18 months planting the church that he writes to. The larger church did not save the Corinthians’ letters to Paul, but Paul’s letters […]
Last week, Sarah McWhirt-Toler shared how our lives can fill up with to-do lists that seem to crowd out life. She asked, “What possessions do we need to shed so that we might be present with God?” Jesus had quite a to-do list: heal the sick, proclaim the Good News, feed the hungry, save the […]
When Trump’s crowd chanted “send her back” they echoed or amplified the president’s tweet: “why don’t they go back?” Sympathy for such rhetoric stands in opposition to Christian Scriptures. Jesus’ core teaching requires us to love our neighbors in the same manner we love ourselves. God will judge our lives by the way we welcome […]
I think someone gave me Anne Lamott’s “Traveling Mercies” years ago. Grace comes as a gift. I first read it 10,000 feet from the Earth, next to strangers, in the window seat. Around page 49, I found myself weeping. What makes a story resonate deeply? Anne Lamott defines grace as “the force that infuses our […]
For 47 years, we Methodists have “held the line”: marching in place, as God’s world spins away from us. We linger again- in a critical moment. Will the Methodist church stand in place, trudge backwards, or risk progress? The Cross came as an outside the box move. The Incarnation, Golden Rule, Reformation, Methodist Class […]
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