Be like the wise men who brought Jesus gifts this year.  1. Follow your star. Where is the star of your heart leading you? Yes, I know COVID has complicated everything but really, follow your star. 2. Take a journey. Even if it is virtual, go somewhere new. We are meant for new. New learning. New friendships. New ideas. 3. Ask your questions. Jesus’ birth prompted questions from everyone. What is your question? So often God is nudging us through the questions that live softly and persistently in our spirit….

As we say goodbye to 2020 and face 2021 there’s much to grieve and to give thanks for. When I consider where we have been and where we might be headed as a world, nation, and church, the biblical idea of wilderness helps me make sense of things. Wilderness throughout scripture is both that place of desolation and divine intervention. As we face what many have labeled as ‘a wilderness time in our country,’ let me say to you, don’t lose heart! Remember, God is a wilderness God and God…

Pregnant and in labor, Mary and Joseph scramble to find shelter. Before these late-night travelers find the stable they were rejected at the inn. “No room,” the innkeeper told them. “No room.” Christmas comes again this year, maybe especially this year, to wonder if there is room for Jesus in our lives? But first, Christmas is about God wanting to room with us. Christmas is God leaving the gated community called Heaven and moving in with a food, finance, and shelter insecure family. Mary made room in her body and…

They call Mary’s song/poem/rap the “Magnificat.” For many of us, it hits the ear the way hot chocolate hits the throat on a cold day. But, that’s only if we aren’t paying attention. Did you know Mary’s song/poem/rap was outlawed in more than a few countries? Somebody was paying attention. Somehow in Mary’s exchange with an angel, somehow in her faith life before the angel, Mary figured out that a life with God is about magnifying God. Not using God to magnify you! Mary learned that life with God is…

I guess I’m getting old. You read something and an image or song comes to mind that’s dated. That dates you. I hear John the Baptist’s story and I think of Perry Mason. Only the old folks will get that, the rest of you, well, thank God for Google. I see him standing there in court, examining the witness. I see him artfully circumvent and dodge all the half-truths of the witness. Incidentally, this is all happening on my 13 inch portable black and white television! Perry Mason was an…

Being a follower of Jesus is choosing to be foolish. Not a fool, but foolish. A fool is someone who has been duped or ignorant. Being foolish for and with Jesus is neither of those things. It’s the opposite of those things. Foolish is a wisdom that flows from knowing the difference between God’s ways and our ways. It’s a bold interdependence, not a stoic self-sufficiency. Foolishness understands you can only have real life if you give your life away. And that, you can only truly possess if you share…

They say “that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” But, 2020 has been tough. And we’re not out of the woods yet. It’s been easier to pay attention to racism, politics, or public health than to pay attention to all the things we’re thankful for. But, even in all of the chaos of life, there is still so much to say Thank you for. It’s always the right time to say thank you from the heart: for life, for the portion…

“The form, the teaching, the truth moves you beyond the form. Like there’s an arc, or a movement, or a trajectory in the words. If you take them seriously, they take you somewhere. The forms aren’t the goal, the goal is an experience of Spirit. I began to see that you can have every form imaginable but without Spirit, without that animating, propulsive energy doing something in it, it’s just a form. Just a prayer, just a set of beliefs, just a religion, just words. We’re surrounded by forms, forms…

9 Things You Can Do to Heal The Nation Today 1. Pray for the nation; pray for President Trump and for President-elect Biden. 2. Be kind in speech and actions especially with those with whom you disagree. 3. Grant Jesus’ request to “ pray for enemies and bless those that curse you.” 4. Use your social media platforms only for positive, non- aggressive, encouraging, and constructive purposes. 5. Refuse to pass along information as truth that does not bear the marks of good scholarship and fairness. 6. Reflect on and…