A question often asked when we travel is, “Where are you from?” Here I invite you to rethink your answer. You may want to locate yourself exactly where you are, which is, like Jesus, on the border. The historical Jesus was a Galilean. “Historical Jesus,” for any unfamiliar with the...

An educated, treasured professional I deeply admire for her open eyes and level thinking summed up last week’s Senate event by saying, “The handling of this [meaning the Judge Brett Kavanaugh hearing], and the discourse, has been deeply disconcerting. I fear we, as a nation, have reached a point of...

The ordinary day suddenly wasn’t ordinary. And like any ordinary day that suddenly wasn’t ordinary, this one felt weird, unnerving. I had pulled into a high school parking lot to a find a phone number on my cell phone. I wanted to be off the main road to do this....

Jesus asks His disciples the same two questions He asks each of us (Mark 8:27-30). Timeless, the questions are significant because they reach into us as much as they did to the first who heard them. As they’re moving from one city to another, Jesus asks His disciples, “Who do...

I met an educator who freely admits to her imperfections, yet she looks at the church to be perfect, or nearly perfect. She wouldn’t say the following outright, but she thinks church should be far, far better than it is. She can have flaws, but the church shouldn’t. Like you,...

It’s a common hall, a nothing-to-take-your-breath-away community space. Low ceilings. Florescent lights. Non-worship stuff is stored there from folded and stacked conference tables to GAME ON beach balls to materials used to make Ugly Quilts. Don’t forget the many bulletin boards aimed for—and designed by—the kiddos. Hardly space for worship....

No one wants to be seen looking bad. Instead, show us in our best light, right? Seriously. If someone is going to talk about us, we wanna look GOOD. That is what should have happened at the end of the Gospel of Matthew. The disciples, who followed their leader’s instructions...

My mom, a farmer’s wife, has what to her is a treasure on her back deck—a rain gauge. While meteorologists may have slightly more sophisticated data collecting software, she’s faithful in writing daily rainfall amounts on a pad on her refrigerator. So yes, there’s August, 2018. Totals vary across our...

Well, happy day. Or actually—happy days. Two young couples are having their young babies baptized this month on back to back Sundays. Both couples recognize God’s gift in their newborns. Professing their faith to God, they want to ensure eternal safety with their son in one case, and their daughter...

A letter addressed “Dear Pastor” recently arrived from an inmate at Camp Hill Correctional Institution. In it, Matthew (not his real name) tells me his mom, who is older and in poor health, is taking care of his young daughter. Matthew said his mom barely has $5 left at the...