300 words a day

Yesterday was the last Sunday of the church year. Next week is the first Sunday of Advent. Next Sunday, the church calendar starts the process of preparing for Christmas, of helping us cut through the chaos of the holidays that we dread and find the kind of anticipation for the coming of Jesus that we […]

King Jesus. We aren’t used to calling you that. We’ve got other names for you,usually nice, usually kind, usually respectful. But we’re more likely to think of you as the one who saves us than as the one who can tell us what to do. We’re more likely to know your friendship than your authority. […]

Sometimes, when I pray next to a hospital bed, I start laughing. Usually, inside my head. Sometimes it creeps into my voice, though, when I know that the other people in the room understand. Because I often say something like, “God, I ask that you will strengthen her heart and give peace to her mind […]

“Half-hearted praise is no praise at all.” That’s what the worship leader said. He was trying to get us to sing louder, I think, or more enthusiastically. He wanted us to be whole-hearted, all in. “Come on, church.” I’ve stood where he stands. I may even have offered that call. But I can’t anymore. It […]

Rich Dixon has another tough question. +++ FREEDOM TOUR 2016 – turns out, when you invite people to get real, sometimes it happens. The topic was Freedom. We read a story of healing including this line: Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” We talked about wounds, mostly the deeper, […]