Pastor’s Pen

“I pray that…you be strengthened in your inner being with power through God’s Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.” – Ephesians 3:16-17 People of Spirit! The month of May is a rich one, calling for your participation and celebration on a […]

“There is no fear in love, for perfect love casts out fear.” – 1 John 4:18 Easter People! What a joy to be on this side of the tomb—the empty tomb, that is—for Christ is risen indeed!  Alleluia! And yet, even though the resurrection is where we belong—this place toward which God has been moving […]

“In mirrors I see myself.  But in mirrors made of glass and silver I never see the whole of myself. I see the me I want to see, and I ignore the rest.  Mirrors that hide nothing hurt me. They reveal an ugliness I’d rather deny.  Yow!  Avoid these mirrors of veracity!” – Walter Wangerin, […]

“I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink.  For they drank […]

“For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her vindication shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning torch.” – Isaiah 62:1 Beloved in the Lord, We were in Leavenworth with Chris’s family, marking Naomi’s birthday on New Year’s Eve and the dawning […]

Of her flesh he took flesh: He does take fresh and fresh, Though much the mystery how, not flesh but spirit now And makes, O marvelous!  New Nazareths in us, Where she shall yet conceive Him, morning noon and eve: New Bethlems, and He born there, evening, noon and morn. – Gerard Manley Hopkins Beloved […]

We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia; for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. – 2 Corinthians 8:1-2 Beloved of God, Gratitude and […]

Will you let me be your servant, let me be as Christ to you? Pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant, too.   We are pilgrims on a journey; we are trav’lers on the road; we are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load. […]

Jesus went away to the region of Tyre.  He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there… but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit…begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not […]

The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. Mark 6:30-31 Beloved of God, The invitation to retreat […]