Relating, Creating, Transforming
Ezekiel 37:1-10 NRSV Have you ever felt like you were in a place of desolation? In other words, when have you felt hopeless, stranded, parched from thirst, empty? Part of our humanity is in recognizing that we do have these low moments—periods of time when we just don’t know if we can continue living. We […]
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John 9:1-7 Roots, Frida Kahlo, 1943 How do we see ourselves? Is our view of ourselves accurate? How do our experiences, both good and bad, affect how we see ourselves? How do we see others? How do our experiences, what we hear or read, affect how we see other people? How can we see ourselves […]
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John 3:9-17 Identity is theme of the 40 days of Lent. Who am I? Who is Jesus? Who are my neighbors? These identity questions should stay with Christians throughout this season, and lead to growth, connection, and cooperation. The Gospel stories of the New Testament give us an opportunity to ask these questions, and then […]
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Matthew 4:1-11 NRSV The 40 days of Lent, for Christians around the world, are an opportunity. Now I don’t know where you are in terms of Christian traditions or Lent. Maybe for you, Lent is a strange word that sounds like the small amount of fuzz in your pants pockets [i.e. lint] or the past […]
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Matthew 17:1-9 Change. Does this word scare you? Make you shiver? Excite you? Heighten your anxiety? Give you hope? Motivate you? Change. How does this word make you feel? It is not hyperbole to say that recently, in the United States, the word change for many does not have a positive connotation. A president addicted […]
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Matthew 5:38-48 Are you a perfectionist? A dictionary definition: a perfectionist is a person who refuses to accept any standard short of perfection. In psychology, perfectionism is a personality trait of a person who strives for flawlessness and sets excessively high performance standards, often accompanied by overly critical self-evaluations and deep concerns about how others […]
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Matthew 5:21-24; 33-37 So many labels. We are named this, that, the other thing. We are told what we are capable of or not capable of. And we bring all of these experiences into our relationships. We bring all of this into community. These labels, these stereotypes—they hinder us from fully expressing ourselves and sometimes […]
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Matthew 5:13-16 I’m not a big fan of bland food. If you are, no problem—no judgements. Everyone has different tastes and certainly, what you grew up eating affects your taste buds. But for me, I like strong flavors in food. I gravitate towards spicy and tangy curries and sauces, a wide variety of chili peppers, […]
Read MoreMatthew 5:1-12 What do I do now? How can I be a kind, loving, and authentic person in this moment? Pertinent and difficult questions. You see, I can only imagine what it was like for the more than half a million people who participated in the women’s march on Washington D.C. last Saturday, January, 21st, […]
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Matthew 4:12-23 On Saturday, January 21st, 2017 a LOT of people were gathering in cities and towns and suburbs across the U.S. and even the world, for the women’s march. My mom marched in Durango, Colorado; my sister in Seattle, Washington; my niece in Des Moines, Iowa; many of friends and colleagues made it to […]
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