The Good Life is a Yoke. - How are your New Year’s Resolutions going? Do you have any left? I can tell you that between the Girl Scout cookies and the snowmageddon, my “diet” is completely busted. I know our intentions are good. We make resolutions to improve our lives in different ways. But it is challenging to keep our commitments with so many competing distractions. Why… Read More
Looking Back to Move Forward - What an honor is to celebrate with you on this 55th Church Anniversary and to see our brothers and sisters achieve the distinctive mark of being members of this congregation for 50 years. (Some of you were not even born when they joined this church!) We are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses that reminds us of commitment… Read More
Listen More - Many of you will relate to this. Has it ever happened to you that in the middle of a conversation, your spouse asks you, “What do you think?” For minutes, she had been sharing with you something that happened. You were nodding, even adding comments like, “wow, really?” Giving the impression that you were listening and paying attention. But, when… Read More
Worry Less - We have worry rituals, don’t we? We bite our fingernails. We pace the floor. We lie awake at night. Our minds twist over and over around a problem, turning it this way and then that like a Rubik’s Cube. Let me show you. This is a brand-new Rubik’s Cube. Right now, everything is in order. All the colors are grouped… Read More
Listen More…Worry Less - Have you ever tried to do it all? I have. We all do in one way or another because we think more is, well, more. When it comes to New Year’s resolutions, that is often what we do: we plan for more because we want a better life. We make a long list of things we will finally get done… Read More
Anchored by Faith, Driven by Hope - What characters come to mind when you hear the phrase or title of “People of Faith in the Bible”? Abraham (has to be on the top 1 for sure), Noah, Moses, King David, prophets like Elisha, Mary mother of Jesus, or any of his disciples for sure. What all of them had in common was their faith and how they… Read More
The Hope of Christmas - “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father… Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.” Matthew 24:36-44 In these verses from Matthew 24, Jesus speaks about the end of times, also known as The Day of the Lord.… Read More
Jesus is the Gift - I like Santa Claus. Such a jolly good fella. But he keeps me on my tiptoes more than I would like. I mean, do you know what his song says? You better watch out, you better not cry,You better not pout, I’m telling you why,Santa Claus is coming to town. He’s making a list; he’s checking it twice,He’s going to… Read More
Lessons and Carols: The Spirit of Christmas - What is the spirit of Christmas? Christmas is a season of lights, gifts, goodwill, and cheer. Christmas is a time to share life with another. This is what God has done, shared divine life with us and the whole of creation in a simple yet profound way: the birth of a baby. This life is the light that guides us and… Read More
Let There Be Room! - Last week, we learned about Jesus coming into a world engulfed by darkness. The prophecy about his coming and birth described him as the “Light of the world.” I quoted the prophet Isaiah when he said in Isaiah 9:2, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them… Read More