Faith, Grace, and Hope

Lent is an invitational season. We are invited into deeper discipline, longer reflection, more community time, and to pay greater attention to Jesus' journey to Jerusalem, the cross, and the resurrection. It's good time to take stock of our commitment to the First Commandment: "You are to have no other gods before me." Note here that God isn't saying that there are not other gods. Instead, the Creator is saying, "I'm first. You are to fear, love, and trust Me above all else." There are little gods all around us. If we did an audit of our time, energy, and expenditures, would someone who didn't know us be able to tell that God was our priority, that we placed the Holy Divine above all else? Lent invites us into this spiritual audit, an examination of thoughts, words, and deeds. We have a season in which we can change our habits so that our bottom line is truly more reflective of our priorities. I encourage you, with the help of the Holy Sp...

Reading:  Revelation 2:12-29 Advent Theme:  Fidelity Even though it may not seem like it at first glance, the churches at Pergamum and Thyatira are struggling with the same issue. Like Ephesus, there are false teachers in their midst. The false prophets here represent an even greater danger to those who are following the Way of Christ because they (the lying leaders) are attempting to equate Christian discipleship with the worship of the emperor or being in league with Roman power. How can you tell? The metaphor of fornication and/or adultery, when used in scripture, is often used to depict unfaithfulness in the relationship of people to God. And, let’s be clear, God is never the party that  adulterates  the relationship. Yes, there are many times in the Bible when adultery is meant to indicate unfaithfulness in human marital relationships and fornication is used to refer to illicit or inappropriate sexual activity. That being said, the mention of Balaam...

I do not like to fail.  Nobody really enjoys failing (I assume), but some people seem to take it a little more in stride than I do.  In the past year, I've come to embrace falling short of the mark. Not failing because I didn't do what I was supposed to, but missing the goal I had set for myself.  Case in point, I really wanted to blog every day this month. I knew I had a lot going on, but I thought it would give me plenty of fodder for the days when the well seemed dry.  It didn't happen.  Even in the first couple days, I had to fall back on posts that seemed ineffectual and a poor representation of what I can write and show here. Not everything is Pulitzer-quality. Not everything can be.  I thought I was doing well and then I looked back and I realized that I had missed Day 5. Well, that's that.  The thing is, I missed Day 5 because I went out and played with my kids. I missed a different day because I took my son to the Bear Paw Festival. A separate...

Joshua 24:1–2a, 14–18; John 6:56-69 If, on a morning, I open my eyes, My first decision thereupon lies. Will I continue to lie in the bed, Allowing my thoughts to run through my head? Will I get up and go to the shower, Regardless of both weather and hour? What of my child, who may want me to stay? What of the tasks that call me this day? From the minute of waking, there are choices to make, What will I give today? What will I take? I want to be saintly and say my first thoughts are of God, But sometimes they’re not and, in that, I’m not odd. We may rise with the sun or maybe at noon, And we make hasty promises to get with God soon. Yet, that instant, a choice has been made- The balance of time against God has been weighed. We can’t do it all. Surely God understands. Consider this: did not God make this world, its demands? But in each thing we choose, and it is choose we must We have decided in which god we shall ...