Against the Spirit

This weeks Gospel reading describes the resistance Jesus faced from all sides, and many followers of Jesus can relate. In doing God’s will, they have been kicked out of the church and even silenced by their own families.

Transfiguration Sunday

[Most weeks, I spend my Thursday lunch hour with a handful of other ‘preachers’ for a group called Preaching Peace. We read the Gospel for the week (from the Revised Common Lectionary), and we ask a simple question: “How would we preach this passage for peace this week?” This post comes out of those conversations.] […]

Blue Christmas

[Sunday Advent 3 December 13, 2020, Church of St. Mark & St. Peter] Well, it’s the season of Christmas songs. Every year there’s a discussion of when it is officially permissible to start playing Christmas songs on the radio. For many, it can’t come soon enough. For others, the sound of Mariah Carey’s, “All I want […]

Becoming an Attentive Church

“Attention is the rarest and most pure form of generosity” – Simone Weil When I need to get the attention of a room of restless children, I use a simple strategy. I start speaking more softly. I just love how this draws them in to listen and focuses their attention. I believe the Church is […]

COVID-19 and the Wilderness Journey

The Church is traveling through 40 days between Easter and Ascension. This marks a transitional period for the disciples as Jesus prepared them for their mission as Apostles. We have a unique opportunity this Easter season as we journey through COVID-19. God is drawing us deep into relationship with him and calling us to repentance. 40 […]

Cooperating with Covid-19

Tim Keener, Passion Week 2020 How do pain and suffering draw us into God’s Kingdom? A friend recently sent me this quote, “We must cooperate with life as it is, as it comes.” The thought captivated me for several days. A global pandemic is currently life “as it is.” So, I began asking myself, “how […]

Epiphany and the Other

Matthew 2:1-12; Isaiah 60:1-6; & Eph. 3:1-12 Matthew’s ‘Epiphany’ was not just about God manifesting himself to humanity, it was especially about God manifesting himself to the Other. Several years ago, our family, living in France, drove down to Spain during the Christmas holiday to visit some friends living outside Madrid. During that visit we […]

When God’s Story Comes into Our Story

Matthew 1:18-25 *Joseph adopts Jesus’ Story into his life Christmas is over but God’s story is not, and he’s inviting you into it. When God comes into our story, we also come into his. I recently saw a meme on social media that said, “Jesus is not a part of the Christmas Story; Christmas is […]

Spiritual But Not Religious

The Church is Called to Embody a Better Faith Originally Published in Seven Magazine October 2016, please contact for republication. “You’re really a pastor?” he asked, as I tried to place his British accent. “I’m a pastor… really,” I warmly replied. It was another chance encounter in Montreal, an opportunity to learn someone’s story, and […]

Short-Term Missions meets Spiritual Pilgrimage

Evangelicals don’t use the word “pilgrimage” as a paradigm for religious travel, but “pilgrimage” better describes the process of participants going away to be changed, rather than changing those to whom they go.