“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! - Matthew 6:22-23 NIV - Dr. Porter …
learn to do good. Seek justice: help the oppressed; defend the orphan; plead for the widow. - Isaiah 1:17 This morning I intended to write a quiet, contemplative, devotional post in the spirit of Holy Week. But instead I find myself deeply disturbed by the overwhelming specter of violence - not only around the …
Continue reading Is policing for us… or for them? #UnitedAirlines
Today I'm floating a question that I'd like all of us to give some serious attention. What do you think about - what occupies your mind - when you are not engaged in a particular task? When you're preparing to fall asleep, when you just can't fall asleep, first thing in the morning when you're …
Continue reading how to live and act from a position of spiritual strength
Peace and Power This morning - a couple of weeks into our journey through Normal Vincent Peale's The Power of Positive Thinking - the men's group I meet with discussed chapter two: "A Peaceful Mind Generates Power." We enjoyed a wide-ranging conversation around the challenge we all face when it comes to reconciling the idea of cultivating a …
"Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an …
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all …
Continue reading the power of words and our responsibility to love out loud
Pilate entered his headquarters again and asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate then said to him, “Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no power over me unless …
Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the …
Continue reading there’s no greater power than the power of our God #VBS
There is one element of "the life of a pastor" I'd like to try to write about that I haven't covered before. But I'm not quite sure where to begin. The job - "minister of word and sacrament" - is a huge, wide-ranging, and demanding responsibility. That is true in a small or average-sized congregation, and …
Continue reading the high cost of love (O love that will not let me go)
I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. - Romans 15:13 Over the past few weeks Rebekah has preached a powerful series of messages on The Holy Spirit here …
Derek Maul: Words and Photographs for the Journey 