Don’t Go Away Grieving

What are you attached to? Do you have any ‘guilty’ attachments? Sea salt and caramel ice cream at midnight when nobody is watching? A cigarette now and again in secret? Facebook? Perhaps some on-line shopping? What about healthy attachments? What are yours? Family? Although that is not always healthy… there is a saying, “Each family…

Shaped by Courage

Prayer, courage, being shaped by God our mutual responsibility as people in Christian community with each other ran through my head this week as I pondered this week’s readings. The impact they have on each other and their interaction with each other. And so I invite you to join me in a moment of prayer.…

Shaped by Words

We are halfway through ‘ordinary time,’ the Season after Pentecost. A time when we learn what it means to be the hands and feet of Christ. The gospel readings are full of questions. Questions are one of the ways the community of disciples seeks to understand Jesus and his ministry. We, too, seek to understand…

Shaped by Challenges

A woman enters the room, she has a shawl around her shoulders, she looks around and begins to speak: Jesus tried to have some privacy when he was in my hometown… But, you know what it is like when a famous person comes to town… even back then without Facebook and Twitter, we knew when…

Preaching, Teaching, Healing

I came in from the back with a shawl draped around me. I was so excited when I heard that my son Jesus was coming home for a visit. I had missed him since he started traveling around the countryside. His brothers and sisters were excited as well… after all, they hadn’t travelled much further…

Five Smooth Stones

There are few stories that are more familiar than the one of David and Goliath. Even the most secular people have some sort of understanding of the story. It comes from more than three thousand years ago, but still has echoes today. Israel has come into the Promised Land and become a significant presence there. With…