Relating, Creating, Transforming
John 4:5-26 What are some specific places or activities that cause you to feel the presence of G-d? Where or when is God especially absent from you? Where do we think that God or the Divine or the Great Spirit or the Eternal Consciousness is? Here? [Sikh Gurdwara] Or here? [Hindu deities] Or here? […]
Read MoreJohn 3:1-9 Last week, I participated in the Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia’s Interfaith Encounters Alternative Spring Break program for college students. I journeyed with students, faculty, and college staff professionals to encounter seven different religious traditions, including: Reconstructionist Jewish; Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Christian; Sikh; Quaker; Won Buddhist; Hindu; Black Muslim and Sunni Muslim. There […]
Read MoreMatthew 4:12-23 Women fishing in Bangladesh Here’s how this story goes: Jesus just got tested in the wilderness. He then returns to Galilee after his cousin John is arrested for eating too many locusts; or something like that. Then Jesus finds two willing fishermen and begins an adventurous journey with them. This story originates in […]
Read MoreJohn 1:29-42 We form memories in our heads of events and people—long after the moment passed or the person passed. These memories, uniquely ours and certainly not entirely accurate—become the reality we place on that event or person. I can tell you plenty of stories about my childhood and adolescence—even a story from a few […]
Read MoreMatthew 11:2-11 When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples 3and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” 4Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5the blind receive their sight, the […]
Read MoreJohn 16:12-15 Our perceptions are incredibly important. How we see the world—our perspectives—determines how we react to things in life and also how we interpret the t hings we experience. So let’s do some activities to reinforce that idea. What do you see? You may see a lakeview with a tree and two people standing. […]
Read MoreJohn 17:20-26 It happens. A strange letter arrives in the mail, a weird email in my inbox, a random post on my Facebook page. People I don’t know, or I may know of them, but they are certainly not close friends or colleagues. I’m invited to something–a gathering of pastors for prayer; a group of […]
Read MoreJohn 14:23-29 Graduation! It’s that time of year. Students will be graduating from high school, college, graduate school—it’s a major milestone in their lives. It is the result of a lot of struggle and hard work; the facing of challenges and the overcoming of obstacles; times when they thought they wouldn’t make it; graduation is […]
Read MoreJohn 13:31-35 One [Lyrics by Bono; Music by U2] Love is a temple, Love a higher law Love is a temple, Love the higher law One love, One blood One life, You got to do what you should One life, With each other Sisters, Brothers One life But we’re not the same We get to […]
Read MoreJohn 21:1-19 SIMPSONS CLIP: Sometimes there are things that bear repeating. Other times, repeating again and again can be quite annoying! But repetition is what we do. It is how we learn. Everyone here has had to memorize something. Perhaps in school you memorized multiplication tables. Maybe you had to memorize certain dates in history […]
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