There is a Peanuts Comic where Lucy and Linus are getting ready for Church. Lucy asks, “Have you studied your Sunday school lesson?” Linus responds, “I’m working on it. I”m practicing doing three things at once” – he says as he tries to get dressed. “All it takes is balance and coordination of which I […]
Psalm 46 ends with a powerful mediation and today, I want to invite you to pray into this with me. I’m going to read a verse a few times through and leave some silence in-between. In the silence return to the words that I just read. Allow God to speak into your life. Before […]
On Saturday morning I went to the grocery to grab a box of cereal for breakfast. I got there around 7:15. The store opened at 7 and I was 15 minutes late to the party! The store was jammed packed. In fact, as I was walking in there was an elderly gentleman leaving and we […]
Today, I want to acknowledge that we are in the midst of uncertain times to say the least. You may very well know people who are affected by the Coronavirus. You most certainly have been impacted by it. There is a tremendous amount of fear in the world around us right now. I pray that […]
In an old Winnie the Pooh comic strip, Pooh and Piglet take an evening walk. They mostly walk in silence. Finally, Piglet asks, “When you wake up in the morning, Pooh, what’s the first thing you say to yourself?” “What’s for breakfast?” answers Pooh. And then Pooh asks, “And what do you say, Piglet?” Piglet […]
Not just once, but twice, Psalm 42 asks the question, “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?” It also says, “My tears have been my food day and night. Why have you forgotten me?” These emotions and questions are real, part of the human experience. Most of us have been there: […]
The much-beloved hymn Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee was written in 1907 by Henry van Dyke. He had been speaking at Williams College in Massachusetts and was inspired by the beauty of the Berkshire Mountains. He later said of the hymn, “These verses are simple expressions of common Christian feelings… hymns of today may be […]
Today, I am deeply grateful for those of you who have supported the Dial Hope Foundation with a financial donation. Hope reaches others because of you. Thank you! Not too long ago, someone shared with me prayers children had written to God. Some of them made me laugh out loud. Others carry an insightful edge. […]
The word Grace comes from the Greek word Charis. In one of his Wednesday night classes on the Parables, our Parish Associate Pastor Bob Smith defined grace as God’s unmerited, un-discourageable love. I like that. Other scholars tell us the word can be translated: joy, gift, pleasure, acceptance, favor, or favor done without any expectation […]
Author Hans-Ruedi Weber tells a popular East African story about a simple woman who always walked around with her big bulky Bible. No matter where she went, she toted it around with her. It got to the point where the other villagers began to tease her about, “Why always the Bible? There are so many […]
