Sometimes we deceive ourselves into thinking we are following Jesus faithfully when we are in fact enriching ourselves and gaining in status and being more faithful to institutions or economies or corporations that look nice, and seem nice, and even feel nice - while contributing to injustice. And so, alongside this challenging and confusing way of life we have chosen as followers of Jesus, we have practices that shape our lives to be more and more like Jesus - more and more into deacons and doulas instead of kings and pawns.

The Word saw all of this, and knowing that we would continue to live in confusion and chaos without a closer encounter, the Word was born in human form. The Word brought that power - burning bright like the whole starry night sky - and pushed out our arrogance and violence until all that was left was a way of life lit by the brilliance of God’s love.

God’s power will save the world. God loves this world, and God will act to save it. As humans created by God, we remain steadfast in faith and worship, and we trust that God’s salvation will come about. We play a part in it, yet we do not control it.

Jesus disn’t ask us to build beautiful buildings. He asked us to follow. Let’s listen, then get to work following his lead.

Take heart, Jesus is calling you. Yes- you! You and others who gather in this place we call “church” to extend the healing love of God into the world.

After 717 days of pandemic, I need to switch gears. Complete some stress cycles and move forward. Hello, Lent!

When you are in exile, you need comfort. Comfort means strength. Sabbath gives comfort to us and then we share it.

Dash the corgi taught me something of what Jesus might have experienced when the crowd in Nazareth turned on him in fear.

The concept of king seems too small for Christ. It is too domineering, too privileged, too wealthy, too filled with earthly power to send people into senseless wars, too disconnected from the reality of a people, too protected by status. It’s a feeble comparison to the unifying, compassionate, and mystical power of Christ’s presence drawing us together in the miraculous healing work of God.

Let’s shift gears into a win-win way of living.

Waste nothing of Jesus, the Bread of Life. Savor every crumb and scrap of the goodness of God that comes before you. Share the goodness with those around you- waste none of it for this world is filled with people starving for God’s presence, God’s goodness.

Howard Thurman taught that the way to change external society was to change one’s internal reality. He was gracious, intellectual, humble, well-read and well-traveled. To know him better, I suggest we all pick up a copy of Jesus and the Disinherited, which changed my view of my responsibility to love like Jesus and my reaction to a variety of issues that seem to press against us all from before and behind. Published in 1949, this book shows that Jesus taught the oppressed people of his time a faith-based unconditional love that would enable them to endure their oppression and have agency in how they responded, in how they lived life more and more like Jesus.

When we see Jesus, we see only Jesus in others.

When we experience joy, it might be a witness to some fulfillment of God’s promises to us. God has promised us so many good things- and Christians believe that God makes good on those promises!

Design a fitness plan that’s simple and fun and you’ll never miss a workout.

Matthew seeks to put into language what is difficult to describe - the dynamic action of God as we experience it as a part of God’s creation. The kingdom of heaven is God’s enterprise, one Jesus explains to us as an enterprise likened to a humble seed growing trees for nesting birds, or yeast leavening bread dough to feed hungry people, an enterprise of discovery- discovering treasure and selling everything to acquire it. An enterprise of discerning the value of a pearl and investing in it, an enterprise of hard back-breaking effort, casting out nets of heavy rope, then pulling them back in with all that you’ve got, and deciding which fish to keep, and which to toss back.