I think the Bible is a living thing whose stories speak to us about what is true and right. It tells stories from which we learn how to live together and build positive relationships with God, the world and each other. Sure, there’s a lot of negativity, violence, death and...
Stories of Jesus aren’t just about believing in God. That’s not enough. There’s more to believe in. Here’s what I mean. It was a dark and stormy night … Jesus had seen the clouds moving in while they were having supper. It’d been a long day and the crowd that...
There’s always more than one perspective. As we move forward towards the post-pandemic world, we’ll need to remember that living into the love that’s in all of us requires nurture and care and a little work. Or a lot. Jesus told some people a parable. A wise old woman looked...
As we find our way forward from the pandemic, with other challenges, old and new, to face, we might want to reflect on a parable Jesus told some people. A parable that went something like this. Mostly. A wise old woman looked out her window one day. She looked up...
There are stories we need to hear right now. To listen, we need to let down the walls we’ve built and discard the things that keep us apart. That’s a tall order. It begins with paying attention to how we are all connected. Here’s a story about Moses, who began...
It’s easy enough to point to the moments when being the church has most definitely not meant being Jesus. I don’t mean to lay them all out here, or debate them. There’s no room for that. Nor should it be necessary. It would be easy, too, to suggest that religion,...
When the pandemic started, there was a saying going around, a cliché that goes “we’re all in the same boat.” Except we’re not, and it wasn’t long before someone pointed out that’s not true. It’s often attributed to a tweet from Damien Barr that’s part of a longer poem, but the popular...
As they set out on their quest to rescue a princess, Shrek tries to explain to Donkey that ogres aren’t what people think. They’re like onions, he says, they have layers. Not at all impressed, Donkey points out that cakes have layers and so do parfaits and they’re so much...
For me, I think the big picture with Jesus is all about love. That verse from John that I keep repeating, “love one another as I have loved you,” is what Jesus is all about, in the big picture. The stories of his life are what illuminate that and teach...
We have a bit of a tortured relationship with “experts” these days. It seems to have become quite easy to negate, and even dismiss, years of learning and experience and lose confidence in expert opinion. At least in some areas. Some people cite social media for that, some the frequency...