Psalm 131 is what we call “self-talk”. It is what we say to ourselves as we remind ourselves of what is important. And it is up to us to learn to quiet our hearts. O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; Nor do I involve myself in great matters, Or in things too difficult for […]

A few years ago, I wrote about developing some practical skills for learning to listen for God. Here’s one of those skills. 1. Learn to remove yourself from distractions as much as it is up to you. Jesus regularly went into the hills in order to talk with God. That practice may be worth developing. […]

Jesus had spent almost three years moving where he wanted to. He started in Galilee, several walking days away from Jerusalem, from the place of power. He traveled to Jerusalem once a year during those three years to worship at the Passover. But he also traveled away from Jerusalem. For a few months, he took […]

God. You and we make promises. Maybe that’s part of what it means to be a person, to make promises to other people. Commitments. Covenants. Agreements. We agree to belong to each other. We agree to belong to teams, to communities, to congregations. We say that we will keep faith. And then we don’t. We […]

Angie said, “why do people think God listens to pastors’ prayers better?” She said I should write about that. I’m just cranky enough today to do that. It could be because people love the book of 1 Chronicles where David outlined the job of the Levites: The duty of the Levites was to help Aaron’s […]