Eastertide: Ripples of Belief

Luke 24: 13-49 There are forty days of Lent. If you observe the Christian calendar, you have just completed walking through this rich and challenging season. Perhaps you gave up something, or added a spiritual discipline in order to align yourself more with the story and journey of Christ to the cross and into the…

Seasons of Prayer

guest post by Bill Lewis Sometimes my burden seems difficult and following Jesus seems so heavy. I should go to church, probably be in a discipleship group, serve in a ministry and give abundantly out of my sometimes meager income. Is God capricious and difficult to follow? All of this seems so overwhelming that I…

A Conglomeration of Lenten Resources

Many of us are receiving ashes on our foreheads today, reminding us of our sin and fragility; and more importantly, of our desire to descend to death with Christ during the season of Lent, that we may somehow “attain the resurrection of the dead.” We often find ourselves thrust into liturgical seasons in the midst…

Turkey and the Kingdom Economy

Thanksgiving is the language of heaven, and we had better start to learn it if we are not to be mere dumb aliens there. ~ A. J. Gossip, Professor of Christian Ethics and Practical Theology at the University of Glasgow When I first met my husband, we were in seminary, which made for many precarious…

Discernment: God’s Yearning for Us

Discernment is a way of sifting priorities and defining a basis for choice. The questions we ask in the midst of the issues that arise in our lives usually center on us and our particular challenges. Personal spiritual discernment shifts the base of our questions. This way of being seeks to listen to God’s yearning…

The Freedom of Simplicity

As I’m writing the note, a dozen things are clamoring for my attention.  Each seems important and probably needs to be done, whether meeting with a friend, editing a writing project, or weeding the garden.  When pressured like this, up to now, my inclination is to speed up and try to get everything done extra…

The Power of Ordinary Liturgies

I am sitting quietly, at the end of a busy day, on Good Friday evening. Part of me wonders – did I miss it? Did I miss Lent? This year, my personal progression through the journey of Christ has been a different one. A few years back, I graduated from seminary and departed from a…