Acta non verba—deeds, not words. That would be great. But, we get carried along, carried off by a feeling, and say things, and then we figure out the feeling and…
“Not one of us” (9:49). I am not interested in hindering others, but I am interested in strengthening the church: healthy, vital, vibrant, whole. The church is strengthened when we…
Why did the disciples cross the lake? To get to the other side. Only, as it turns out, that wasn’t so simple as they had thought when they set out. …
Up to this point, Luke has measured his account by weeks, even months. Now, it’s by hours: time is short. The vast majority of people in those times didn’t eat…
So here is the sum of it. Jesus has been describing a way to live governed by God’s principles, life God’s way, a heart being filled with God. This happens…
Around seventy years ago, a psychiatrist named Murray Bowen began to articulate a theory of how emotions operate in family systems. Bowen noted, as our own experience shows, that when…
Jesus is back from the wilderness, tested, steeled with the Spirit, with purpose, devotion, zeal, focus. People notice. People gather. So many bump through life wishy-washy, pale, bruised. Oh, why…
Jesus came to call people to follow, to believe and follow: only believe, just follow. If they weren’t sure whether they believed, Jesus told them to follow and see. “Trust…
I feel a little like Jude. No, not Judas—though I’ve had my moments, God knows! Jude—he wrote a brief letter that comes just before Revelation. Location, location, location. Jude begins…
I suppose we each have a picture of how the church ought to be, including this little congregation of it. No one’s picture looks just like the church as it…