Weekly Sanctuary
The Sovereignty of God
1 Kings 19:1-18 – Run and Hide When I’m confused, unclear, bone tired; when wrong seems to be winning the day, and the world seems to have collectively lost its mind; when disappointment and sadness settle in like unwelcome houseguests; when hope seems in short supply and when I feel overwhelmed and helpless to know…
God’s Sovereignty: Divine Creator
Mark 4:35-41 Jesus Calms a Storm 35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great windstorm arose,…
Practicing Your Faith
John 15:9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.” It’s impossible to grow without putting in some kind of effort. Growing in…
Pruned by the Father’s Hands
John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” A friend recently told me about a fascinating conversation he had had with a…
Restoration
A beautiful part of resurrection is and will be restoration. Resurrection is the restoring of life; the restoring of relationship. I feel a deep, almost desperate need for restoration, for this “bringing something back to its original condition, returning something to its original owner, returning something to an unimpaired or improved condition.” From…
Resurrection reality
Resurrection. That word is very attractive to me, especially now. I’m hungry for Resurrection. There’s been so much difficulty over the last year, so much Death and Burial. I’m so very ready for some new life. Resurrection is a radical word and an even crazier reality. Throughout my life, in church and in…
Transition and Transformation
My three-year-old daughter’s favorite activity during our daily commute is “I Spy.” During the guessing game, the “spy” chooses an object within sight, and the other person has to guess what the object is, with only the color as a clue. Over the last few months, “I spy…something green” has led to some interesting…
Acceptance and Surrender
In the undercurrents of our narratives and clichés is a cultural conspiracy designed to convince us that we are in control of our lives. That if we work hard enough, we can guarantee our success. That if we dream big enough, anything is possible. That if we serve God and play by the rules,…
Sorrow and Joy
I am a parent. I have lost a parent. I have children. I have lost children. Sorrow is not an unfamiliar emotion in my life. Grief and trauma have been woven into the story of my family quite frequently during the last decade. Yet, so has joy. In Ecclesiastes 3, we read that…
Language and Valleys
No one wants to be fluent in the language of grief. No one wants to grow familiar with the valley of death. Yet, for some of us, this is the land in which we dwell and the words that we utter. This has been a hard season. For some of us, what started…