Last month my employer-issued laptop slowed to a crawl. Every keystroke was followed by a two second delay, making it impossible to...
I can still hear the voices of my Sunday school teachers as they taught me to memorize Psalm 119:11 in the classic King James Version: “Thy word have I hid in mine heart...
In yesterday’s reflection, I explained how the imperative “Submit to one another” might be disturbing to us, even as it was almost...
Ephesians’ teaching on household relationships begins with what one might call a disturbing dictate: “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” In fact, the original Greek of verse 21...
If you’ve spent a lot of your life reading the Bible, as I have, you might forget that it wasn’t written directly...
Today we begin looking at a new section of Ephesians. No, I did not forget about verse 20, which encourages us to give thanks to God. I’m saving this verse for a month...
Years ago, a mentor told me, “Show me your bank account, and I’ll show you your true self.”
Her name is Kara. Yes, with a K. She is the young wife of a young pastor and mother to four simply beautiful children. And she is very sick, cancer in her blood...
Psalm 118 was written in the context of hostility. The unnamed psalm writer was facing threats from his enemies who hated him and sought to kill him. But the Lord rescued and protected him.
A few years ago, a girlfriend convinced me to join a morning prayer group. This group of women rose early and checked in online to keep each other accountable as they prayed and...
Life is hectic. ...
My pilgrimage began the day we went back to visit my grandmother’s land. I had come to say goodbye, to walk my memories across the familiar pasture, trace my boundary lines along the...
According to Ephesians 5:18-19, as we are filled with the Spirit, we will, among other things, “sing and make music from [our]...
In yesterday’s reflection, we considered the first of two “audience temptations” of worship, the temptation to consider ourselves as the primary audience...
In yesterday’s reflection, we considered an analogy from the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. He said that when it comes to worship, God...
If you were to eavesdrop on the conversations of churchgoers after a typical worship service, you’d hear comments like, “I loved the band this morning” or “The choir was a little off” or...
Her name was Krystal. Yes, with a K. She was ten and had asked Jesus to come into her heart the way most ten year olds do, with simple childlike trust. I told...
I watched as my oncologist heaved open my giant medical folder. “I’ve got a big chart,” I said, laughing. “At Dr. Jeffrey’s...
One of the greatest challenges and joys of my life was leading a church during the building of a sanctuary, the space many would now call a “worship center.”
The first American flown back from Africa with the ebola virus told Matt Lauer in an interview for NBC news that he...
