Hello my friends, Thank you for being here. I feel like I write "it has been another heavy week" every week now, sadly. Given the several inhumane and shocking events of this last week, I wanted to focus on a question posed in the Bible that doesn't seem to get a lot of attention. The question of why the wicked seem to prosper. My hope in this piece is to not only process the reality of all that is happening and ask this question together, but also to hopefully encourage you to continue...
8 days ago • 7 min read
My friends, These days only seem to get heavier and scarier. Many of us wake with a knot in our stomachs, scroll headlines with a sense of dread, and carry the weight of our country and the world that seems more and more untethered from love, peace, and justice. In recent days, national leaders have threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, a 1807 law that allows the president to deploy military forces against uprisings. This was in response to peaceful protests in Minneapolis after the...
15 days ago • 8 min read
My friends, It has been another difficult and heavy week in an already heavy time. I just want to remind you to take good care of your mental and emotional health. Build time into your schedule for a walk, for mindfulness exercises, for prayer, for time with loved ones, and for taking breaks from news and social media. To show up fully for others in this time includes showing fully for yourselves. This is a marathon, not a sprint. We must maintain healthy rhythms to maintain endurance. My...
22 days ago • 8 min read
Hello my friends, As we continue on into this Christmas season, we encounter John's introduction to Jesus entering the world at the beginning of his gospel. It is one that holds profound meaning and mystery, especially for our world today. I hope you find it encouraging and illuminating. Before we get started, I wanted recommend the book Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself By Dr. Kristin Neff. I just recently finished it for the first time and plan on reading it again...
29 days ago • 7 min read
Hello my friends, This is being sent out on December 28th, so I hope your Christmas season has been filled with peace and encouragement. I know this can also be a difficult time for meany. Grief, hardship, and loss can make the holidays difficult to endure. I hope you receive an extra measure of peace and joy as time goes on. You are seen and loved. I don't have any recommended resources for you today. I just want to leave you with this reflection on Matthew 2:13-23. As you read, keep the...
about 1 month ago • 6 min read
Hello my friends, Today I want to focus on the mercy at the heart of the "Christmas story" and what it says about the nature of God and the way we are called to live in our world today. All through the lens of Joseph's interior life and the prophecy of Isaiah in Matthew 1:18-25. I hope it is an encouragement to your heart. Recommended Resources This season can be complicated for many. Grieving church community we once had. Wondering where Christianity fits in your life and if you are a...
about 1 month ago • 7 min read
Hello my friends, As we continue our journey through advent, I wanted to explore the intersection between doubt and faith with you today through the lens of Matthew 11:2-11 where we hear John the Baptist ask a deeply vulnerable question of Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” When we remember that John is the one who baptized Jesus, heard the voice of God declaring Jesus as God's son, and the spirit descending on Jesus like a dove, and yet still asks this...
about 2 months ago • 10 min read
Hello my friends, Today I want to look at Matthew 3:1-12 with you and explore the themes of repentance, fruit, and the prophetic task within it and how they might shape our perspectives today. Recommended Resources -The Prophetic Imagination by Walter Brueggemann This little book has had a profound impact on my perspective of the biblical prophets and the message they came to proclaim. I highly recommend it if you haven't read it yet. -Falling Upward, Revised and Updated: A Spirituality for...
about 2 months ago • 8 min read
Hello my friends, I wanted to begin today with a gentle reminder to be kind to yourself. In the midst of the way our world is today, especially during the holiday season, we can spend so much time serving and advocating for others that we can neglect ourselves. In fact, for many of us, we can even be tremendously hard on ourselves for not doing "enough." This is deeply disruptive, not only to our sense of self, but to the very goal of caring for others. When we do not show up for ourselves,...
2 months ago • 8 min read