Reading Colossians for Christmas

For the last few months I’ve been studying Ephesians, Philemon, and Colossians, wending my way back and forth between the books in several different settings.  I got mired in Colossians in the weeks leading up to and beginning the Advent season, which turns out to have been a fantastic thing! I’ve been enthusiastic about Colossians…

Wisdom of the ages

I love the scriptures collected into what we call “the Bible” for all sorts of reasons, but one of them is that they are just so true.  And I don’t mean only in a Revealed Truth esoteric sort of way but in a very down to earth, matter of fact sort of way. I recently…

Neighbors

I had just read about loving your neighbor as yourself. I was reflecting on what that means as I puttered around shutting up the house and thinking of little ways that I try to live this out.  As I left the house and started walking to work, I began wondering about the handful of men…

Celebrating Freedom

In addition to being Father’s Day, Sunday, June 19th was the day known as Juneteenth in many states in the U.S. Juneteenth commemorates the day in 1865 that news came to slaves in Texas, two years after the fact, that they had been freed by President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. I was surprised to know…

Consider the lilies…

Consider the Lilies of the Field by Christina Rossetti Flowers preach to us if we will hear:– The rose saith in the dewy morn: I am most fair; Yet all my loveliness is born Upon a thorn. The poppy saith amid the corn: Let but my scarlet head appear And I am held in scorn;…

When it feels like you can’t breathe…

…remember the dolphin. Dolphins live in water. Dolphins breathe air like you and me. This was God’s idea.  Maybe my life isn’t so complicated after all!  😉 ~ Might we meditate on these words of Paul to the church in Corinth as we continue celebrating the resurrection? For God who said, “Let light shine out…

Too much reality?

Do you ever find yourself avoiding prayer? The way you might avoid a difficult conversation? Or maybe not even a difficult conversation, but one that you expect to be just a little too intense for what you feel able to handle at the moment?  A little too much reality? Prayer is the ultimate reality check,…

The Stories They Don’t Tell Us

  James died. His story cut short by the sword. No details except that it was a matter of political expediency, and pleased the people. No details. No approving Paul on the sidelines or final prayers of despair or forgiveness. Is the mention a footnote, a parenthetical, an aside? A bridge to Peter’s miraculous release? …