Prayer itself has become pat answer or a way to say, “I’m sad and sorry for what has happened.” Our world is overtly challenged if you can at all believe what you read and hear today. We are returning from a month in Europe and have encountered the core stuff of life in a world…

I frequently muse about the role that grief plays in our lives.  Losses are inevitable and even necessary.  If we learn how to grieve and mourn them well, we will come to experience a kind of spiritual freedom only available through letting go. I’m troubled when I see how often we as believers walk away…

We just put up our “tree” for this season. It carries more weight this year since we have been without this ritual for the last two holiday seasons. Our tree was fresh cut – by hand – by friends – for us – from the Colorado forest. Now I have not reflected at great depth…

“In the world you have trouble But, take courage I have conquered the world.” Jesus (John 16:33) “Pain plunges like a sword through creation. Suffering is everywhere, unavoidable and never idle.” (Underhill) We truly live in a pain-phobic culture. How can we embrace the true reality of suffering in ways that are spiritually and psychologically…

“…Here’s what I want you to do…  Get out there and walk -– better yet, run! –- on the road God called you to travel.  I don’t want you strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere.  And mark, that you do this with humility and  discipline — until we are all moving rhythmically and…

As I sit to write this I am aware that many do not believe that Jesus has anything to do with this season, much less that he is God and Lord over all.  Being PC can be unnerving when there is precious little room for anything more than opinions, which after all are only yours…

At the beginning of this year, I was impacted by the enormous idea (not new) that time plays a larger role in our lives than most of us give credence to. It is as if the inevitable, inexorable drivenness of the state we find ourselves in is too large for comprehension, so time goes unattended,…

“In the world you have trouble But, take courage I have conquered the world.”  Jesus (john 16:33) ”Pain plunges like a sword through creation. Suffering is everywhere, unavoidable and never idle.” (Underhill) We truly live in a pain-phobic culture. How can we embrace the true reality of suffering in ways that are spiritually and psychologically healthy?…

“The devil hath the power to assume a pleasing shape.” -William Shakespeare, Hamlet As I have mused about this question that we are focusing on, I believe that it will aid the reader if they know what meaning I am assuming with certain terms, (really only one, the ‘Gospel’). After looking and reading some variety…