And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Forgiveness is at the heart of the Gospel.  Learning to both receive and give forgiveness is at the heart of every relationship that matters.  Receiving and giving forgiveness is not always an easy thing. Accepting forgiveness is hard because we have a Read More...

Paul, the apostle, wrote, “Let love be genuine.” The Greek word translated here as “genuine” can be read literally as “un-hypocritical.”  Let love be un-hypocritical.  The popular translation of the Bible known as The Message translates this first verse to say: “Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it.”  Read More...

Every year as the days get longer I offer a list of books that I have, or I am hoping to, read.  Here’s the latest: What We Talk About When We Talk About God, by Rob Bell.  I read this powerful little book during a plane flight on my way back to Read More...

I find the practice of prayer powerful and difficult at the same time.  The powerful moments come when my prayer life is in full swing and I realize I can handle almost anything that comes along.  When I make space in my schedule for 30 minutes of quiet time spent in silence Read More...

I’m preaching this Sunday on the gift of love.  While working on my notes for the sermon I made a list of all the things I love about our congregation.  I did this as a spiritual exercise, as a prayer of thanksgiving for you, the members and friends of this church. As Read More...

The message of Easter says that we are not stuck in the past.  The story of the cross and the empty tomb says that we are no longer slaves to guilt but have been set free.  Peter wrote to the ancient church that “we’ve been given a brand new life and have Read More...

The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome, “If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live at peace with all.”  This instruction is clear but it comes with an “if.”  “If it is possible.”  Paul knows that we are not always able to mend every wound.  Every Read More...

Today is Good Friday.  At noon today about 150 folks will gather in our sanctuary to face the ugliness of the execution of God’s beloved child.  When we hear the story of the crucifixion our beautiful gold cross will be shrouded in black cloth. The service will end in a pain-filled silence. Read More...

  “You need to die if you want to live with me,” Jesus says to his disciples and to us, but most of us are not too sure that we want to follow that advice.  This is a difficult teaching but if we pay attention to the Easter story we’ll see that Read More...

The Argentinian Poet Antonio Porchia has written, “To wound the heart is to create it.”  That is a truth that is difficult to embrace.  We try to protect our hearts.  We guard them.  We don’t want to have them wounded in any way. No one knows how to hurt each better than Read More...

I grew up attending mostly very conservative, evangelical churches.  We did not participate in the season of Lent.  Some of my Sunday School teachers and youth group leaders implied that Lenten practices like giving up chocolate for 40 days or praying a certain set of prayers every day was “Catholic,” but not Read More...

Jesus taught, “Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you.” This is not an easy thing to do. We have a hard enough time loving each other. I’m a preacher’s kid. I went to church for the first time when I was six days old. One of the complaints I have Read More...

That’s Not in the Bible! There are several popular sayings in our culture that are attributed to the Bible but are not found in the pages of that sacred and holy book.  Some are relatively harmless and kind of helpful, too, like Cleanliness is next to Godliness.  Being clean is a good Read More...

My father-in-law, Roy Pomeroy was, like Mary’s husband Joseph, a carpenter. A few years ago Roy flew out from his home in Oregon to help us build some book shelves and a deck. Ok, he built the shelves and the deck. I tried to help but he kept me out of the Read More...

I met Santa years ago. After working late at one of the malls on a Saturday night he came to worship.  After the service I invited him for a cup of coffee in the Social Hall.  I asked him how things were going.  He told me about a little girl who had Read More...