Julie frequently took Bible study classes and joined spiritual formation small groups but after class she would pull me aside and whisper fiercely to me, “My 40 year old cousin is dying of cancer and I just don’t know if I can believe in God if this is how God has arranged the world.”
To recognize God’s grace in the provision of a heart of flesh is key. Much as I prefer the self-protection offered by cynicism, caution, and carbohydrates, finding my way back to my own belovedness has required receiving a new spirit, one of tenderness and one of vulnerability.
By Rev. Joe Walker, Minister of Congregational Care When I was in elementary school, then as now, everyone was both excited and somewhat anxious as the new academic year got underway. For me, the beginning of school coincided with the onset of my fall seasonal allergies. Colloquially we called it hay fever Read More...
One of my favorite stories from Anne Lamott is her explaining why she made her (now grown) son Sam go to church as a child. She gives humorous detail about trying to get him enthused -- all to no end. She jokes that he goes because she is 75 pounds bigger and Read More...
A well-known proverb among Jewish rabbis goes like this: “An hour spent in study is an hour spent in prayer.” I love that saying, not just because study is important to me as a former seminary professor but because it reminds me that study is a way of praying, of being with Read More...
“Mountains are huge contemplatives. They are there and they are in the presence up to their necks and they are still in it and with it and within it.” This is how author, poet, and philosopher, John O’Donohue talks about the wonder of landscapes such as those that surrounded us at Christian Community Read More...
When summer rolls around my happy place is the screened-in porch. Surrounded by the lush green magnolia tree, orange zinnias, white hydrangeas I find solace. Reading or praying at dawn or unwinding at sunset I feel the warmth of the summer rising the whisper of rain. Watching the yellow and red finches Read More...
There is nothing more on this earth to be prized than true friendship” -Thomas Aquinas I lost a friend this week. Jan was 27 years older than me and often played the role of second mother, advising me and encouraging me to listen to my heart. She was the first female board Read More...
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? -Psalm 8: 2-3When I was in Kindergarten, we drove from our home in Ft. Worth to Read More...
When the Apostle Paul concludes his letter to the church in Rome he sends personal greetings to 26 named individuals. “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon…welcome her as a saint…Greet Prisca and Aquila, who work with me in Christ Jesus and who risked their necks for my life…Greet Urbanus, Read More...
Last Friday, when the Supreme Court officially released its ruling on the reversal of Roe V. Wade, I was grateful that I had already written and released the Friday e-news because it would give me a week to think through my spiritual reflections. Though seven days later, my heart remains heavy and Read More...
Someone came over and stood at the foot of his bed and rubbed his feet. Writer and teacher Parker Palmer tells in one of his books about the time when he fell into such a deep depression that he could no longer get out of bed in the morning. Folks from his Read More...
I do believe it is possible to create, even without ever writing a word or painting a picture, by simply molding one’s inner life. -Etty Hillesum, An Interrupted Life The artist's brush strokes make a difference. The way the light focuses your attention on a particular character in the Biblical scene speaks Read More...
By the time you read this our church group of 46 will have said “Arrivederci” to Florence and Rome. The final stop on our “Bible and Art” tour was the Basilica of Santa Croce, where legend suggests that St. Francis of Assisi laid the cornerstone. Michelangelo, Galileo and Dante are all buried Read More...
More than 30 years ago our church formed a partnership with a sister African American congregation named Swope Parkway United Christian Church. We enjoyed pulpit and choir exchanges and dinner groups. During that time I made a lifelong friend named Mary Lou Kepler. She had a civic job at the time but Read More...
