Our parents are not perfect people who have loved us perfectly throughout our lives. What we receive from our parents is usually a combination of love for their children and an expression of their faults as well—that defines a good parent. Not so great parents may abuse or mistreat their children, they may be alcoholics […]

1.9.23   A conversation over lunch with a friend one day reminded me that we never really get over ourselves totally even as we commit our lives to the Lord. As we offer ourselves and each sin we have committed, the challenges we have faced, and the hopes we have for ourselves and others up […]

Jesus is very clear about grief in the second Beatitude: those who mourn will be comforted. [Matthew 5:4] Unexpressed grief, sorrow, pain and suffering keeps us tied to the past and unable to be present in our lives or present to God. Mostly what happens is that anger at the injustice, the pain we have […]

The third petition in the Lord’s Prayer, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one,” [Matt 6:13 NIV] asks God to keep us safe from harm, challenge, distraction and the devil. The first part of the petition in the NSRV reads: “And do not bring us to the time of trial.” […]

  The second petition in the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6:12, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” has two main interpretations in our churches today: 1) as I just quoted and 2)” forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” There is another version of Jesus’ teaching in […]

When I look back on my life, I can clearly see God in everything that happened: from spending my formative years in a hell-fire-and-damnation church to allowing me time to grow up, to mature before I had kids, from leading me out of the church into a cult where I learned that there are different […]

In our history, we enslaved African men and women, but today we are all in captivity because of this blot on our history.  I’m not enslaved, you say, but I would disagree.  Look at what the aftermath of this sinful part of our history leaves us with: our guilt and shame at what our country […]

  “The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity—even under the most difficult circumstances—to add a deeper meaning to his life.[1]   Suffering of all different kinds seems to be our lot in life on […]

There are two sons in the Parable of the Prodigal or Lost Son in Luke 15, but we often just focus on the errant one. He is the one who asked for his inheritance and then went off and lived a fun life and spent/lost all his inheritance. He was brought to his knees by […]

  We can easily live on the surface of our lives and forget that our sub-conscious and unconscious minds exist in us and hold maybe differing, even opposing views to our conscious minds. We can clean up our act, looking loving and good on the surface, but hold judgment, anger, and fear on the inside. […]