Thursday, December 13, 2018 | Reflections
Every reading in the Daily Office lectionary today says basically the same thing: Set your heart on what God has shown you to be true over and over, and don’t quit. God is doing something amazing. Living into that truth is complicated. We live out a faith that is...
Wednesday, December 12, 2018 | Reflections
I’ve been watching folks between 15 and 30 years old making their voices heard in profound and culture-shifting ways. Like Isaiah, they are young and fresh and wide-eyed, but they have been paying remarkable attention to the world around them. They know their stories;...
Tuesday, December 11, 2018 | Reflections
Nothing good happens when we forget our stories, our deepest self-knowledge, our understanding of who we are and are called to be. When we forget why we say the words, how the stories have changed us, we lose the substance of ourselves—our muchness, as author Lewis...
Monday, December 10, 2018 | Reflections
I worry that I give God bitter grapes when all God has given me ought to make me sweet. And sometimes, I won’t allow people to just be sweet to me—I struggle not to assume some kind of intent to gain leverage, or buy time, or pacify. Isaiah breaks my heart. He calls...
Sunday, December 9, 2018 | Reflections
I walked into the store, sorted through a rainbow-covered rack, and selected a blue dress with gold embroidery. I stood in front of the mirror in the dressing room, willing myself not to sob with joy as I pulled the dress over my head and adjusted the sleeves and hem....
Saturday, December 8, 2018 | Reflections
Approaching a campsite at dusk after a long hike in, seeing familiar faces or holy trees, sacred springs or a flock of wild turkeys, feels more like coming home than walking into my house. Songs shared around a campfire between friends, whether singing like angels or...
Friday, December 7, 2018 | Reflections
If the spectrum of human emotion could be equated to the keyboard on a piano, Psalm 22 would hit all eighty-eight keys. Advent is one of those seasons that can touch all our emotions as well. We joyfully prepare our hearts to welcome Jesus, and we sometimes weep over...
Thursday, December 6, 2018 | Reflections
Let me be honest with you. The best thing—the bedrock of all the good things that there may be about me—isn’t about me. It is Jesus’ love for me—lived and died and resurrected and coming back. That is the best thing about me. This is the best thing about you too....
Wednesday, December 5, 2018 | Reflections
I have found myself clinging to these words tighter and tighter in the last few years. I hold dear to my heart the hope that there will be a time of right judgment and a righteous judge coming to make things right. I dream about the day when we will live out of each...
Tuesday, December 4, 2018 | Reflections
We don’t like having our dirty soul-laundry aired out. Usually, we set fire to the pile and walk right out of the house as we scream at the one who has laid bare our hidden sin. We punish prophets for exposing the reality of our own personal and corporate sins, and we...
Monday, December 3, 2018 | Reflections
God tells us exactly how to stop doing damaging things to ourselves and each other: learn how to do good things, look out to make sure the right things are happening, rescue anyone who is in danger, be loving and present to all children you come across, those known...
Sunday, December 2, 2018 | Reflections
Jeremiah and I didn’t really get to know each other until I was in my late 20s and early 30s. This figure from the Bible became like a faraway best friend to me. In those strange days of claiming my adulthood and trying to live into my baptismal covenant in concrete...
Saturday, December 1, 2018 | Reflections
There was a day last summer that was one of my best days ever. I stood on the uneven floor of my wonky little kitchen in our funny old farmhouse and made fresh salsa out of vegetables from our own backyard. We ate that salsa on eggs from our very own hens. That...
Friday, November 30, 2018 | Reflections
Today the church remembers Saint Andrew, often referred to as “the first called.” This alludes both to Andrew’s quick response in following Jesus and how he brought his brother Simon Peter to meet the Lord. I serve a church dedicated to Saint Andrew. We are a friendly...
Thursday, November 29, 2018 | Reflections
Throughout this month, we’ve talked a lot about the lives of the saints. With All Saints’ Day, the commemoration of All Souls, and Veterans’ Day, it’s easy to see why November is often referred to as the month of Holy Souls. This month is not meant for lament or...
