Have you ever experienced a surprise that completely changed your perspective or direction in life? The Lord has a way of surprising us in unexpected and powerful ways.
He often leads us on paths that we never would have chosen for ourselves. Just as the disciples were surprised when Jesus called them to leave everything and follow Him, we too may be surprised by the directions in which the Lord leads us. His ways are always higher than ours, and His plans are always for our ultimate good….
We are in an intense period of the liturgical year right now. Last Sunday we celebrated the Feast of the Ascension. This Sunday is Pentecost, followed by Trinity Sunday on May 26. The narrative cycle of the church year is coming to a close, and we are transitioning to the rhythm of “ordinary time”—where we will remain until Advent begins again….
This Sunday we will celebrate the Feast of the Ascension, transferred forward a few days from its official date this year on Thursday, May 9. It is wonderful to commemorate this pivotal part of Jesus’ story — the moment, after his resurrection, when he ascended into heaven. There is a small downside to transferring the feast day, though, which is that we miss out on scripture passages appointed for the seventh Sunday of Easter. This year that means that we don’t hear about Matthias in Acts 1:15-17, 21-26….
The photo below is a new mural that has just been unveiled on Riker’s Island. It is the collaborative vision of detainees, artists and arts therapists. Moving the vision from aspiration to reality was a collaborative process, too: detainees of all ethnicities and...
What does it mean to abide in Christ? It means to stay connected to Him, to draw our life from Him, to make Him our source of strength and nourishment. With what is happening in the world today this is so important. We have to live in a constant dependence on Him,...
As we move on into the season of Easter and further into an election cycle that necessitates our reckoning with faith-based nationalism, I offer this poem by D.A. Powell. Written in 2023 and titled The Miracle of Giving…
Well, we’ve had a remarkable last couple of weeks. After a deep Holy Week (including a quick visit from the fire department on Palm Sunday!) and a joyous Easter, we experienced both a 4.7 magnitude earthquake and a solar eclipse! Sure, some of us might not have actually felt the earthquake, and depending on where you were the eclipse was partial and sometimes covered by clouds ─ but both natural events still happened. And they affected us, whether we realized it or not….
Some years ago, there was a story making the rounds about a man named Robert Liebowitz. A 60 -year-old single father of five, he had been struggling with kidney disease since he was 10 years old. Eventually he was told that he would need dialysis three times a week to survive, and a transplant to live. Because of his blood type (“O”), and the fact that some of his children were also contending with kidney disease, none of them could donate one of their kidneys to their father….
Easter Sunday- the day we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
A time when Alleluias fill the air and we say, ALLELUIA!, CHRIST IS RESIN, THE LORD IS RISEN INDEED, ALLELUIA!
Easter morning revealed a divine power that can transform our lives from the inside out. The hope of the resurrection is that even though we can’t change ourselves, we can be changed….
Essay on Adam
By Robert Bringhurst
There are five possibilities. One: Adam fell.
Two: he was pushed. Three: he jumped. Four:
he only looked over the edge, and one look silenced him.
Five: nothing worth mentioning happened to Adam.
The first, that he fell, is too simple. The fourth,
fear, we have tried and found useless. The fifth,
nothing happened, is dull. The choice is between:
he jumped or was pushed. And the difference between these
is only an issue of whether the demons
work from the inside out or from the outside
in: the one
theological question….