And now Jesus begins to illustrate what he means by not measuring up. He’s going to take what everyone had thought of as spiritually sufficient and change the routine. He starts in a way that is very familiar to all of us who like to attack the status quo: “You have heard it said that, […]

God.  The year is two weeks old. All around us we are aware of needs. As much as we try, we are not enough. Each hour as we look at our social media, we are aware that we cannot understand all the hate, be present for the grief, encourage all the persistence, offer all the […]

Now the conversation turns. Jesus was always surrounded by people who had nothing left to lose. As they learned they could trust him, he attracted “sinners” and prostitutes, tax collectors and Palestinians, wealthy women and line workers. They sat closer and closer. But almost always, standing at the edge of the crowd, keeping a safe […]

Jesus now talks about influence. He talks about salt and light. Salt seasons. It preserves. It melts ice. It helps make homemade ice cream. It corrodes paint. It makes water undrinkable. Attached to your arm, it makes the same water support life. It is simple. It is natural. It is found in lots of locations, […]

Rich Dixon invites us to look closer: +++ Last time we looked at one of my favorite verses in Scripture. “Forget the former things;    do not dwell on the past.   See, I am doing a new thing!    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” To wrap up an old year, we focused on forgetting and letting go. […]