Give us eyes to see the deepest needs of people. Give us hearts full of love for our neighbors as well as for the strangers we meet. Help us understand what it means to love others as we love ourselves. Teach us to care in a way that strengthens those who are sick. Fill us…
Details“Cut away the thick calluses from your heart and stop being so willfully hard-headed. God, your God, is the God of all gods, God is the Master of all masters, a God immense and powerful and awesome. God doesn’t play favorites, takes no bribes, makes sure orphans and widows are treated fairly, takes loving care…
DetailsHebrews 4: 1-2 “Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest is still open, let us take care that none of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For indeed the good news came to us just as to them; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not…
DetailsI recently had the pleasure of reading David & Constantino Khalaf’s excellent new book, “Modern Kinship: A Queer Guide to Christian Marriage”. While the book is chalk-full of good marital advice, they even start by exploring the challenges of the dating stage. In a section called “Challenging Geographic Limits”, they open with this:“This is the…
DetailsHebrews 3: 12 – 19 “So watch your step, friends. Make sure there’s no evil unbelief lying around that will trip you up and throw you off course, diverting you from the living God. For as long as it’s still God’s Today, keep each other on your toes so sin doesn’t slow down your reflexes.…
DetailsHebrews 3: 1-5 “So, my dear Christian friends, companions in following this call to the heights, take a good hard look at Jesus. He’s the centerpiece of everything we believe, faithful in everything God gave him to do. Moses was also faithful, but Jesus gets far more honor. A builder is more valuable than a…
DetailsJoel 2: 12, 13 “Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he…
DetailsIsaiah 43: 18, 19 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. “Lent is intended to lead us into an always…
Details“We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and God is shining through it all the time. God manifests Himself everywhere, in everything – in people and in things and in nature and in events … The only thing is we don’t see it … I have no program for this seeing. It…
DetailsIsaiah 30: 15 “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength….” Repentance, in the original Greek the word metanoia, means “to change one’s mind.” Following spiritual transformation, repentance is the action of changing how one lives because one’s heart has been converted. Repentance as a spiritual practice of Lent…
DetailsIsaiah 58: 6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?” “What are you giving up for Lent?” If you’re connected to a congregation that observes the church year, this may…
DetailsLuke 4: 1 “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.” Lent reminds us that even in death there can…
DetailsA guest post from Jessica Williams. “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. . . Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions…
DetailsThis Lent we are inviting church people to give up the comfort of silence and speak up in support of their LGBTQ+ siblings in Christ. The challenge is to tell your pastor that you affirm LGBTQ+ people in the church! Many have felt helpless watching church politics and decision making bodies wound LGBTQ+ people again…
DetailsRecently, I was dealing with some insecurities about my identity. Identity insecurity is an unwelcome but regular visitor in my life, especially as someone who today identifies as “queer” and “female” and “pastor” in a world that often considers their coexistence to be oxymoronic. Some days holding those identities together feels like trying to assemble…
DetailsTwo years ago, I sat down with the community at St. Stephen University (SSU) to share about our journey as a Generous Space community. They filmed it and I recently re-discovered it. I thought I’d share it here on the blog for a few reasons: It gives a good sense of GS’s journey into understanding…
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