Learning to love others the way Jesus loves us
There is a legend about the dogwood tree. It’s a lovely little story with absolutely no basis in fact about the role of the dogwood tree in the crucifixion of Jesus. The flowers form a cross, the central portions represent a crown, and each petal is pierced and stained red. The spring blooms come near… Continue reading The Dogwood
The silence of God also does not mean the inactivity of God. (Twitter post, @songgirl127, April 16 2022) How long, O Lord? It was the cry of the prophets from Moses to Malachi. It was the cry of the early church under persecution. And it is the cry of many today in the face of… Continue reading When God seems silent
1 Thessalonians 5:12-28 The caption in my Bible for these 16 verses is "Final instructions and benediction." I don't think it is a good caption, considering the depth of what Paul wrote. Fortunately, the captions are not part of the Word, but were added by editors, supposedly to make reading easier. Sometimes they can be… Continue reading Love, Joy, Reason
1 Thessalonians 4:1-12 The Thessalonians acted on their beliefs, even though they didn't know as much as Paul would have liked them to know. He told them that they had been taught by God to love one another, and he encouraged them to not only continue in their love, but to increase it, loving each… Continue reading More and more
There is a really cool percussive dance genre called Stepping. When I read Galatians 5 this morning, all I could imagine was a team of people using their whole bodies and their voices to create complex rhythms with a message. Stepping requires coordination, discipline, practice, unity, and commitment for the routine to have its full… Continue reading Keep in step
Why would anyone go back to something that doesn't work?Galatians 4 Why Jesus? Why did he relinquish his divine authority and be born as a human to live in an oppressed population under the Roman government? Paul says it plainly, " to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive adoption… Continue reading Why go back?
There can be no question that Western culture stands on the precipice of an anti-Christian era. Many people, particularly in academia, have already dismissed Christianity as a nonsense philosophy that is dangerous to democracy. Incorrect assumptions abound, particularly regarding Jesus and the gospel. The assumptions are sometimes based in how people in the Church act… Continue reading Why grace as default?
Defaulting to Grace 