Leader || Preacher || Teacher
Looking for love in the wrong place.
When I was in college, I was looking for love in all the wrong places. I thought I would find love in teen night clubs or in a bar. But people aren’t looking for love when they go to those places, they’re looking for fun. This is why you are disappointed when you don’t find the relationship you’re looking for. You’re looking in the wrong places.
Continue reading “Raised to Life: Looking in the Right Place”
I had made up my mind that I wanted to try out for the 7th-grade basketball team. I stood up in class in response to the directions heard over the intercom that all who were interested were to meet in the gym. A guy in my class, I’ll call him “Tom”, pointed his finger at me and laughed saying, “You think you are good enough to make the team?” I was embarrassed. I went to tryouts but
I arrived late to class and noticed that the mood in the room was anxious and tense. The students and teacher were speculating about an event that was happening in New York. I was confused and wasn’t following the conversation. “What happened? What are you talking about?” It was Tuesday, September 11, 2001
“We eat, we drink, the next day we die,” and that’s all there is to it. But don’t fool yourselves. Don’t let yourselves be poisoned by this anti-resurrection loose talk. “Bad company ruins good manners.” – 1 Cor 15:32-33 (MSG Bible). I believe these words are fitting for our society’s current state as we are surrounded by bad news, fake news, moral outrage, hot topics, and hot takes. Our hearts are pulled into perpetual fear anticipating the next big failure, with a limited view of possible solutions. It is no wonder politics (based on fear, doomsday rhetoric, and outrage) are our religion and those in office are our saviors.
Continue reading “Good News: Believe It”
I am the father of three brave girls. Well, they are brave most of the time. The other times when they are not so brave is often due to bugs. Bugs are their kryptonite. For you, it may be clowns (thanks “It”). What I have observed is that people can be brave but often they are not. The end of Mark’s gospel is a commentary on humanity today, “…they were afraid.”
“It is so good to still have you with us Jesus. We thought we’d lost you but here you are in the flesh. Those three days without you felt like an eternity but now that you’ve been with us for about, how long has it been? A little over a month? We couldn’t imagine life without you and we are ready for what comes next. So, me and the guys were wondering when are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel? What was that, Jesus? You’re leaving?”
A life without pain may mean that we have resigned to helplessness and hopelessness. A pain free life sounds great but it may be that we have grown numb or that we are self-medicating to stay numb. A pain free life may mean that we have also become numb to joy and love. In our efforts to avoid pain to try and spare ourselves from the worst, we may inadvertently choose to miss out on God’s best. Pain is a gift, but it is the gift that no one wants. We don’t want it because the problem with pain is that it cannot be switched off. Continue reading “The Gift of Pain”
I grew up Catholic but when I went to college I stopped going to mass. The only time I remember going was during Holy Week (Holy Week leads up to Easter). I attended a Maundy/Holy Thursday service. I went because I thought I might witness the Stations of the Cross. They did not give the Stations that evening. I missed it and it is one of the traditions that I miss from my Catholic days. I did not go the next day of any other day afterward. I thought, “this may be last time I go to church.” Little did I know, God had different plans.
Walter Brueggemann makes a case for God’s people to recapture the prophetic imagination of God’s prophets. He calls us to recapture it because we are encapsulated by our surrounding, dominant, and pervasive culture. Starting with Moses he demonstrates to the reader how God’s people are to be a part of an alternative community. Moses was not simply interested in social justice but he was preaching a message that ushered in God’s re-creation. The Israelites had been enslaved so long that they did not know an alternative to their way of life as slaves.
I should have been there. At the cross. At his grave. In the room with the rest of the disciples. You’ve got to understand – my world had just turned upside down. Continue reading “Resurrection Stories – Part 3”