Our words are important; what we say matters. Words can be used to build up, encourage, and speak great truths. They can also be used to tear down, hurt, or even speak truths in unloving ways. As James notes, though the tongue is a small member of the body, it holds much power (3:2-4). When I...
I recently read two quotes, one being a Jewish proverb that said, “Hospitality is a form of worship” and the other being, “The heart of hospitality is when people leave your home they should feel better about themselves and not better about you.” These nuggets of wisdom...
Heads up: this is one of the longer posts on the blog. It will take you 10 minutes to read. Do you have 10 minutes right now? If not, bookmark this page and block out 10 minutes on your calendar so you can come back to this post when you have time. I promise it is important. This summer I...
Rest may seem like an odd topic to add to our list of spiritual disciplines. After all, in our culture, rest is almost a dirty word, bringing up associations of laziness and sloth. Rest seems like an unnecessary waste of time when there is always something more to be done. We pride ourselves on...
Throughout the Bible, many of God’s people prayed at specific times of day. In Psalm 119:164, the psalmist says “Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous ordinances.” In the book of Daniel, in spite of King Darius’ decree, Daniel went to his house and...
Truth telling seems pretty easy. We learn early in life that our parents just have a sixth sense about when their children bend the truth. But the reality is, even when our intentions are good, exaggerations, gossip, and the bending of truth can very easily slip into our dialogue. In...
He is risen. He is risen indeed. Today is Easter. It is the day we celebrate this unending mystery of resurrection and life. We cannot understand how life reenters the dead, but we cling to this story we have been handed and will share with our children. Although we will never fully grasp this...
Since we are currently in the season of Lent, it is appropriate to share some thoughts about the spiritual discipline of fasting. Lent is the 40 days (not counting Sundays) that lead up to Easter Sunday in which many Christians throughout the centuries have modeled Jesus’ example of...
Scripture is a significant way that we learn about and engage with God, through the Holy Spirit. It reveals to us something about who God is, how God has been working in the world, and how we are invited to participate in the Mission of God. Within scripture, we find stories of our spiritual...
January is the season of newness. Here in the midst of the dead of winter we find new beginnings - not just because we are still marking the 12 days of Christmas, but because we flip our calendars to a new year. As we begin to count this 2018th trip around the sun since the birth of our Lord, we...