By the time you read this I will be on a plane to Texas to visit with my parents and my sister who is flying in from California. The four of us were lucky enough to enjoy a family visit just six weeks before the lockdown in 2020. And we were able to Read More...

What would be the real Easter to you right now? Is there some dramatic event that, if it were to happen, would so surprise and amaze you that you would be completely blown away by it? I’ve been thinking about this question off and on for several weeks now. On the day Read More...

Good Friday is perhaps the most difficult of all days for a Christian. We turn away in horror as we remember how Jesus, the one who embodied the fullness of God’s love, was crucified. And we shake our heads wondering how such a death could bring life. I remember my professor, Serene Read More...

When I was growing up in Fort Worth, Texas, we always looked forward to the Fat Stock Show Parade that launched the Rodeo and Fair and exhibits of the Stock Show. We even got a school holiday and free pass to attend! I also loved constructing the purple and white floats for Read More...

What is the right balance between work and leisure? That was the topic in week four of the “Life Worth Living” class that Dr. Graves leads. I was a little self conscious about the topic as my scale often tips too far into the work. How could play be fun when there Read More...

I grew up standing next to my mother in the kitchen chopping and preparing the meal. Our family time revolved around sharing stories at the dinner table. My husband grew up in a parsonage where his mom was always baking an apple pie for the next potluck or iced sugar cookies for Read More...

The Spirit will surprise you. It will rattle your world and then show you something that is possible beyond your wildest imagination. We are two Sunday’s shy of a full year of worshipping 100% via live stream. I could never have fathomed that we could endure this let alone thrive and grow Read More...

Do you remember when we thought 2021 would be better? After 10 pandemic-laden months overplayed by a host of racial, political and economic woes, we looked forward to the dawn of a new calendar year. But less than two months into the freshness of a new year we have been knocked down Read More...

When we decided to host the webinar on “A Life worth Living” with Volf and Brooks we hoped we would get more than 100 folks to participate, maybe even up to 500. But in the end, well over 1100 households tuned in, some as far away as India!. (If you missed it you can Read More...

When you “envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree,” what images spring into your consciousness? I was startled to hear Amanda Gorman, the youngest poet at a presidential inauguration, refer to this Biblical phrase. Perhaps she was picturing a scene post covid, where we gather in a city Read More...

Miroslav Volf was in Manhattan a few blocks from the World Trade Center on 9/11. He was about to give a lecture on Christian theology as he stood and looked up and watched the flames and smoke representing evil and hate and perpetrated by those who claimed to be religious.This was not Read More...

I first became intrigued by David Brooks when he provided the conservative commentary on the PBS NewsHour. I didn’t always agree with him but I always admired his thoughtfulness and the kindness that he exhibited to his dialogue partners. Later I became acquainted with his written words  appearing in The Wall Street Read More...

God’s heart was grieved. God looked around at the wickedness of humankind and saw that human hearts were filled with evil. And God was sorry that God had made them. (Genesis 6: 5-11) In the  first chapters of  Genesis, we read about the beauty of God’s creation: rivers, mountains, birds, flowers. God Read More...