Faith, Grace, and Hope

At the beginning of time, there was chaos and darkness- disordered nothingness But that harsh environment, in the sharp edges of confusion and potential, There was Love. God’s own self existed- Truth does not exist in a vacuum. There was a relationship within God that is beyond our imagination. There was Love. The Word of Life and the Shaping Spirit worked out the soil, the water, the plants, the animals. The Eternal Creative birthed people for the sake of creation. There was Love. In the calling to co-create through farming, ranching, planting, cultivating, parenting, Friending, building, dreaming, cooperating, and expanding, There was Love. Together, God’s own self revealed kin-dom in one way and then another. Despite rebellion and rejection, brokenness and stubbornness, in the plan of Three in One There was Love. Oil and flour sustained. Wellsprings flowed in the desert. Prophets heard whispers. Women dreamed and did not abandon hope. The t

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith… 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead. James 2:14-18, 26             I just realized today that I haven’t posted a single thing to my blog since Easter. For some of you that doesn’t mean anything and for others, you’re screaming, “I know!” Though, in most weeks, I write sermons, litanies, commentaries, and (sometimes) book reviews, my blog remains a necessary outpost of ongoing thought and conversation. It is also the most fr

Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him,  2  as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,  3  and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.  (Luke 8:1-3) Why does that passage matter? In the scheme of things, Luke’s gospel is following along. There are women spoken to, healed, encountered. This also happens in John and in Mark. Matthew, too. This insertion from Luke is interesting, though. It must be there for a reason. I believe it is there to refute the idea that the disciples traveled with camp prostitutes. This passage is inserted, in my opinion, to acknowledge what was likely rumored and true about the disciples when Jesus was in the flesh and then among the followers of the Way after the Ascension. There were