Consistent spiritual disciplines or habits of spending time with God have always been difficult for me. I love to read and read about scripture. Sitting in God’s presence and offering the concerns, needs, and praises of the community brings me hope and fresh energy. I have found that beyond bible study and prayer, we can… Read More »

Several years ago, Morgan and I took a trip to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. West of Denver, we came to the Eisenhower Tunnel, which cuts through the mountains of the continental divide. When we came out of the tunnel still heading west, we noticed a sign sitting to the right of the road, warning… Read More »

At this same time last year, I shared about my experience of baptism as a young person. In the church calendar, today is the first Sunday after the Epiphany when the wise men visited Jesus as a toddler. We celebrate and study Jesus’s experience of baptism today as a reminder of our own baptism. The… Read More »

One year has gone by. So much has happened this past year. Then I thought, “Well, we cannot make the road by walking together, yet looking backward.” Reflecting on what has happened and what we have done is important work. But with learning from the past, we must be sure to find a way to… Read More »

The Messiah has come. Hallelujah! In Bethlehem, the city of David, Jesus was born to Mary and Joseph, a fulfillment of God’s promises. God’s unfailing love has carried the people of Israel this far as they struggle under the great empires of history. God has not and will never forsake or abandon us, human beings… Read More »

Today is the third Sunday of our Advent journey. We have been doing the difficult work of imagination, considering how God might be inviting us to see beyond what is to begin seeing what could be. We have dared to imagine the possibilities of a god that comes as an infant into our world through… Read More »

When I was young, probably between 8 and 12 years old, I remember hearing stories from my parents about how I was a sleep-walker. I, of course, do not remember many of these experiences, but I do remember one in particular. I needed to go to the bathroom, so I got out of bed. But… Read More »

We journey together into the season of Advent, a time of longing, yearning, anticipating, and hoping in the incarnation of the living God, the God of Israel in Jesus of Nazareth, the promised Messiah, the Christ. While we enter the story 2000 years ago when God first came as a human being to a family… Read More »

We have come to the end of our journey with Ruth, Boaz, and Naomi. The last 9 verses ring familiar to us as we remember the beginning of this story. After ten years in Moab and the death of her husband and two sons, Naomi returns to Bethlehem. The women of the village are talking… Read More »

We return to the book of Ruth this morning, chapter 4, the first 13 verses. Forms of the root word redeem dominate this portion of the story. Hebrew words that share the root, redeem, occur 14 times in this passage alone. Something similar occurred in the first chapters of Ruth. In Ruth chapter 1, the… Read More »