Grief and suffering bring us close to the heart of the suffering God and can open us to God’s transforming and resurrecting power.
Grief and suffering bring us close to the heart of the suffering God and can open us to God’s transforming and resurrecting power.
There are forces conspiring to keep us in the dark, but Jesus opens our eyes so that we can see that our deepest yearnings are satisfied only in God.
The Advent break in of God in Christ is underway, bringing disruption of a status quo that our world needs to be free of, and liberation from the imprisonment of sin.
Our unwitting abusive treatment of the Royal family is a symptom of our entanglement in systemic persecution.
Christian spirituality is full of yearning and hungering and reaching for a God who can never quite be satisfyingly grasped.
Faithful lament, even enraged and despairing lament, takes us close to the heart of God, though we usually can’t perceive God when we are there.
In Jesus, rejoicing at our deliverance leads us not to retribution, but to a way of peace, living life for each other, praying for each other, and holding the good of each other before our own.
The beginning of wisdom, the entry onto the road that leads to life, is reverence for God, which shapes our character and therefore our lives.
The experience of winter is God’s gift, inviting us to silence, healing and new depth of life.
The recognition that in Jesus we see the exact likeness of the Father rescues us from fear and slavery and invites us to live as the beloved children of God.
The way of blessedness that comes through obedience and submission to God’s will, but the choice lies in our hands.
Christian hope is rooted in suffering that does not remain unanswered. God answers in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ensuring that everything will not only be fine, it will be better.
As we head with Jesus towards the cross, carrying the pain and injustice of the world, God does not hide his face from us but hears our cries for justice.
When our world and our hearts feel dry, cut off, and despondent, there is hope and life to be found in God’s promises.
As important as our responses and decisions are, before we know, we are known. Before we understand, we are understood. Before we say ‘Yes’, ‘Yes’ is said to us.
In the face of global suffering, we continue to give praise for the power that is working on the side of love, and we unite our power with God’s power until we see God’s will being done.
God created the earth and gave it to us, but mistreated, it rebels. Jesus, rising form the earth, redeems the earth, so that if can again be our true home.
Whatever the future may hold, in rough places AND in smooth, in dark valleys and on sunlit hillsides, the Lord is our shepherd, and will lead us finally to green pastures and still waters.
In the face of monumental devastation and suffering, God speaks a word, and the word becomes flesh.
Lent calls us to faithfulness to God and we need to assess the direction of our journey, our call to ministry and also to meet our own demons.