I’ve been doing some research into the Gospels lately about what did Jesus actually say about God. And it’s been interesting to see what qualities he is promoting about God. This weeks’ post and next weeks’ share this common theme. First and foremost, he talks about God as the gardener and the pruner[John 15: 1-17]. […]

  A big reason why we don’t follow Jesus, why we get stuck in beliefs without the real relationship with Christ, why we limit what the Gospel is telling us so it is palatable and pretty easy to follow, is this: we’re too focused on ourselves and not on God. We are pretty naturally self-involved […]

“Be still and know that I am God.” That is a challenge in this busy, busy holiday season. But at all times there is a reason that we are asked in Psalm 46:10 to still ourselves, to quiet our minds, to simplify our lives: we cannot access the divine wisdom within us, the “still, small […]

I am a slow learner. It’s taken me years to undo all that my family and the church(hell-fire-and-damnation) and the culture taught me about being in the world and about God. It’s complicated because I was formed by what I was taught about myself and the world and God and, also, how I took what […]

Life itself is such a miracle! And having a life here, being a part of this great planet is such a privilege! The beauty, the interconnec-tedness of all species, the incredible variety of plants and animals, rocks and minerals! What a gift life is! And what a God who created it all! Can you even […]

“The command to love God is first not simply because it’s most important but because it’s the only commandment. God is One; God is the only one; God is all. How we do anything is how we love God. How we love a neighbor, love a stranger, love an enemy, this is our love of […]

Jesus summed up all that the law and prophets had recorded in the Old Testament in the Two Great Commandments: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself.”[Luke 10:27] We don’t need the […]

The choice between God and the world We can see it in everyone we know: the lack of self-knowledge and self-love. It’s evident in second-guessing oneself in everything. In not expressing who we are in the world, in not using our own voice to express ourselves. It’s evident in having to perform and not being […]

I think we focus on Jesus’ divinity so much, we fail to notice that his human side did trip him up occasionally. If we keep in mind these few instances when he acted out of his humanity, I think we will truly grasp why he is so available to us and so understanding of the […]

“Fear of the Lord” is one of those phrases from the Bible that needs to be unpacked, to be thought about more broadly than is usually done. So often it has been tied to our behavior around the Ten Commandments and other rules of life in the Bible. It has been linked to our “bad” […]