For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. ~ Psalm 103:14 One of the most powerful moments of my ministry life was the first time I imposed ashes on the foreheads of God's people. There was an older saint who ambled down to the front. She was in her late 80's I think. She had this intense and earnest look in her eyes, and I spoke the words: "Dear Sister, rem...

Lent begins with a feast. Each week of Lent begins with a feast. Lent all ends with a feast first on Maundy Thursday before the fasting of Good Friday, and then on Easter Sunday. On that Easter Sunday, absence gives way to presence. As our very bodies have felt the absence of food, drink, devices, social media or some other source of comfort and delight, on Sunday, they fe...

"Worship is participation in the order of God’s redeeming love. Each week we gather and participate in this story of love. We are formed and shaped by it individually and communally. We are told about it. We sing about. We taste it, see it, hear it, feel it, smell it. Our bodies are reanimated by this love." ...

"The liturgies of the world that I had been holding onto (worship of self and denial of God’s presence) came crashing down, as I admitted to God how extremely desperate I was to dwell in His love rather than in myself."...

Jesus asks, “What do you love?” Notice the question isn’t what do you believe or what do you think, but what do you love. This is because humans are desiring creatures. We are lovers. What drives us is what we love....

"Jesus is trying to get the man to see what he really loves. Justin reminded us that looking and loving comes tied together. It is tremendous grace that God reveals our hearts and helps us reorient them."...

Last night, I sat around with my community group sipping on some decaf coffee and half-listening to the conversation as my ear was partially attuned to my son dumping a whole box of building blocks onto the floor in the room around the corner. The discussion had centered around God's faithfulness to Abraham throughout his life, and the many promises proclaimed directly to ...

Justin's question to the little Christians in the room stuck with me as I listened to the sermon Will you go? And if you choose to go, what motivates you? Certainty and control motivate me... So, saying yes to something that involves mystery, faith, trust, and risk...is just really hard for me. What motivates me to go when certainty is not promised and control is out of ...

One summer about 20 years ago, my family spent a couple of days on a genealogical pilgrimage. We visited the town in Quebec where my great great (...I don't remember how many greats) grandfather John Hinks and his wife Elsie settled after they immigrated from England. We traced their children to Powerscourt, Quebec, about a mile north of the US border, and found their name...

I rememberso much in highschool and young adulthood thinking that I just needed to try harder if I loved God enough, I wouldn't be sinning so much. I knew that I was a *sinner* at my core. I understood that sanctification was a work of grace and that I was saved by faith alone, not by my works but somehow I felt such great pressure to be stronger in my faith and better in ...