Tuesday, April 17, 2018 | Reflections
Sometimes you feel it in your bones. Sometimes you just know. Your breath slows down. You pause. You feel as though time has stopped. You are frozen in place. You want to stay there forever. You want to feel safe. Warm. Present. Calm. Known. Sometimes you’re on...
Monday, April 16, 2018 | Reflections
Our stories are deeply and intimately connected to the stories of everyone else we know and many, many other people we don’t know and never will. Our wholeness and our pain are each borne by others in addition to ourselves. Many of us may be familiar with the killing...
Monday, April 16, 2018 | Reflections
Today’s Daily Office Gospel reading, skipping the genealogy of Jesus, brings us back around to John the Baptizer, a voice crying in the wilderness, which continues for the next two days. Probably chosen to begin the way to our annual memorialization of the...
Monday, April 16, 2018 | Reflections
The post The Shepherd’s Love appeared first on d365 Daily Devotionals. This post appeared here first: The Shepherd’s Love [D365 Daily Devotions]
Sunday, April 15, 2018 | Reflections
Human beings are endlessly complicated, frail, and stubborn. Not only do we bear the image of God, we also bear the likeness of one another—the good, the bad, and the ugly. Proof of our frailty is found in our ability to rehearse and rehash our mistakes over and over...
Sunday, April 15, 2018 | Reflections
“…What we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” I John 3:2 (NIV) Have you seen those bracelets that say WWJD? It’s on tee-shirts too, and some...
Saturday, April 14, 2018 | Reflections
The Holy Spirit is the star of the show in Acts. Some of us may have been conditioned to imagine the Holy Spirit as a violent, disrespectful force blowing into our lives uninvited and pummeling us into submission to God’s will. But what if the Holy Spirit is more like...
Saturday, April 14, 2018 | Reflections
I speak often of a group that I belong to and have the honor of mentoring in, and that is Education for Ministry (EfM). For those unfamiliar with the title, it’s an educational formation program for laypeople, but is open to clergy who may be part of a...
Friday, April 13, 2018 | Reflections
Daily Office Readings for Friday, April 13, 2018: AM Psalm 16, 17; PM Psalm 134, 135 Exod. 16:23-36; 1 Pet. 3:13-4:6; John 16:1-15 Our reading from Exodus–the story of manna in the wilderness–reminds me just how fickle we are about “miracle...
Friday, April 13, 2018 | Reflections
I’m comforted in knowing that the apostles can be a little snotty and ungrateful. I have this tendency as well. The daily work of parish ministry can often feel like a distraction from what I perceive to be the real work of church. I want to spend my time sharing the...
Thursday, April 12, 2018 | Reflections
Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, is saying something important. In his address to the religious elites, he talks about this strange cohort of Jesus-followers who are constantly upsetting the status quo in Jerusalem. As a child, my family and I visited New York City....
Thursday, April 12, 2018 | Reflections
John 15:12-27 Here is the heart of Christian teaching, its very essence. “Love one another as I have loved you.” This is what it is all about, Jesus tells his disciples. Expressing the greatest love there is, he gave his life for his friends. Because of his...
Wednesday, April 11, 2018 | Reflections
John 15:1-11 Spring officially began on March 20, but in much of the country you couldn’t tell that. One of my friends on the West Coast was bewailing the fact that it was in the 90s a few days ago where she lives, while those of us trapped in Flyover Country...
Wednesday, April 11, 2018 | Reflections
Our shadows have the power to be agents of healing and wholeness when we are honest about them. Peter has many shadows—he’s quick-tempered, impatient, prideful, angry. And still, Jesus calls him to walk by his side. Peter’s close proximity to Jesus does not excise...
Tuesday, April 10, 2018 | Reflections
Ananias and Sapphira hedge their bets. They’ve been living as members of the growing community of Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem. But when they sell a piece of property, they keep a portion of the proceeds, just in case this Jesus-business doesn’t work out. To make...
