The call that Jesus spoke in his day is still the call we hear. Repent, give you life into the love God has for you. But hear this call to repentance, not as I so often did as a youth in church, negative and threatening. Instead, hear it as is was...
It is typical to focus in this story on the Samaritan as the one who lives out the commands that we are to love our neighbor and therefore loves God. After all the story is called the parable of the Good Samaritan, but the reason for the parable is to...
I wonder if prayer is for Jesus the way in which he achieves that oneness with the father. Is there for him some deeply powerful spirit at work in his prayer that opens for that relationship with God. Not drawing a direct comparison, but Martin Luther noted many times in...
In many ways we are not unlike Johnn in that what happens in life does not always bear witness to the power of Jesus at work in us nor in the world. We may not be in prison, but the promises Jesus makes in his ministry at times seem very...
I am often amazed at those people of faith who can say they have do doubts. For as deep as I believe my faith is, I still have trust issues with God. I often think about the image of a “circle of trust,” and I find myself sometimes in the...
Are we keeping the sabbath?” Does our life, our faith witness to the power of God at work in us. Not by some ridge sense of black and white behavior that keeps us from showing mercy, but in living out the grace of God for others. Casting ourselves into God’s...
There seems at times to be a mystery at work in our lives. With all the ebbs and flows of life, it rarely seems that we are each where we thought we would be. I think of my own life growing up, how I would never have imagined to have...
The spirit is the power in us to live the life that Jesus calls us to live. It fills and guides and directs all that we do. Some would say that the spirit is the way in which God communicates with us. The spirit fully God, now dwells within us....
Have you ever asked yourself that question when you think about your baptism. As we have come together as church over the years, as we have welcomed others into our church family, we have upheld the foundation of our faith of baptism. Baptism is our initiation in the calling of...
