Let me begin this post with a bit of a personal confession: My last post was about a month ago and at that time I intended to take only one week off from writing this current blog series. I’d like to say that my unintended, more lengthy pause from writing was a needed rest period, […]
Tag: Faith
On Ordinary Time
The season of Ordinary Time has arrived. Nowadays though many liturgical cycles call this time of the Church Year “the time after Pentecost” since that sounds more lively and less, well, ordinary. My personal preference is for the old, boring phrase though, and let me explain why. First, the work that God is doing in […]
On Joyful Disbelief
Disbelief gets a hard rap, and sometimes for good measure. Jesus critiques the disbelief of the disciples quite often in the scriptures. However, the resurrection narratives found in the gospels remind us that not all disbelief is the same. After Jesus is buried in the tomb and all hope seems lost, the disciples are overwhelmed […]
On Seasonal Side Effects
The various seasons of the Church Year provide opportunities to explore different aspects of our faith. Each season brings with it certain rituals and practices and it can be easy to simply go through the motions without ever growing spiritually. When we choose to fully embrace each season we discover holistic spiritual health that nurtures […]
On Discipleship
Many of those who identify as Christians these days have a savior complex. Either they think they are called to be a savior, or they are looking for another humanly savior to preserve their worldview and way of life. However, when we ground our faith in the Gospel, we discover that we are not called […]
On Ancient Rituals
When we follow the Church Calendar, not only do we have the opportunity to practice longstanding traditions of the Church, which connect us to past followers of Jesus; we also have occasions where we get to take part in rituals that go back even further to our ancient ancestors of faith. Ash Wednesday is one […]
On the Mystical Mountaintop
The Epiphany season of the Church Calendar opens and closes with mystical mountaintop moments. The season began with a figurative mountaintop moment, celebrating the arrival of magi coming to bow down and worship the Christ Child. And now we conclude the season up on a literal mountaintop with the story we call “the transfiguration”. First, […]
On Proclaiming Good News
During this period of the Church Calendar known as Epiphany or the “the time Epiphany”, we look back on the “firsts” of Jesus’ ministry. Recently in this series of reflections, we have touched on how Jesus’ mission is introduced and how the first disciples were called. It is appropriate for us to also look at […]
On Being Called By God
Similar to how each of the four gospels differ regarding Jesus’ first acts of ministry (as explored in the last reflection), the formation stories regarding the first disciples also varies. There is much to learn from this and far more to discover than this one short reflection could possibly exhaust. Yet, let’s explore a few […]
On Recentering
It can perhaps seem a bit out-of-touch to be writing this series on the Church Calendar when there may be more important topics to discuss in our current times. Yet, one of the epiphanies of this Epiphany season might just be how much the Church Lectionary can help us understand the essentials of the Gospel, […]
Relevant Reformation 