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“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32  Last Sunday, I preached a sermon on civility and kindness.  Before I leave this topic I want to add a liitle more based on the text from Ephesians 4:32.  Webster’s dictionary defines “civility” as “civilized conduct, especially: courtesy, politeness; a polite act or expression.”  Increasingly, we are living in a less and less civil world.  It seems like everywhere we turn, we witness acts of incivility and rude behavior: at the grocery store, the bank, the airport, even driving on the road.   We find rude behavior from the intrusive cell-phone user who holds loud conversations in public…

I have noticed a growing sentimentality in my spirit as of late. Maybe I am getting old. Maybe I have been quarantined too long. Things that normally would not keep my attention, I find strangely beautiful. Just yesterday, I watched the neighbor boy climb to the top of our shared fence so he could play ball with my son down below. Here they were, each in their own yard, obeying the rules, but driven by the deep need for human connection. They have not been able to play with anyone outside of their family in months.  When they discovered that only a fence separated them, loneliness turned into…

“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”  2 Peter 3:18 (NIV) A couple of weeks ago, while I was in Dallas, Cathy and I planted a vegetable garden consisting of green and red peppers, cucumbers, squash and tomatoes.  We had to take careful steps in planting these vegetable plants properly, making sure they were planted with the right conditions in the right soil, fertilizer and the proper amount of sun and that they would be watered daily with the right amount of water but not too much.  The Christian life like that vegetable garden…

This week, with states around the country beginning to have conversations about reopening I found myself doing something I haven’t done in many months.  I found myself beginning to dream of a life beyond this trauma.  It brought my spirit great joy to do so even if all that I dream of never comes to pass.  Future thinking is an important part of our well being as human beings.  When we aren’t able to do it we become anxious, depressed, and irritable.   In his book Stumbling on Happiness, Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert writes, “To see is to experience the world as it is, to remember is to experience…

26 Don’t be afraid of anyone! Everything that is hidden will be found out, and every secret will be known. 27 Whatever I say to you in the dark, you must tell in the light. And you must announce from the housetops whatever I have whispered to you. 28 Don’t be afraid of people. They can kill you, but they cannot harm your soul. Instead, you should fear God who can destroy both your body and your soul in hell. 29 Aren’t two sparrows sold for only a penny? But your Father knows when any one of them falls to the ground. 30 Even the hairs on your…

Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin,[a] Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. John 21:2-3 It had been a long few days for Peter.  In less than a week, he had cut a man’s ear off, let his Rabbi get arrested, lied outright to avoid imprisonment and execution, watched his Rabbi slowly die at the hands of an oppressive government, and now he had…

“On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover. 11 The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. 12 The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan.” Joshua 5:10-12 This passage from Joshua 5 describes a time of transition in the life of Israel. Leadership had been passed from Moses to Joshua. The children of Israel…

The worst things are never the last things with Jesus. What a profound word for the times in which we find ourselves. No one can live without hope and the world needs our witness now more than ever. Will we be those people who insist that yes, this world is broken, but in Christ all that is broken will be made new? Will we be the ones in our communities who live and speak that the worst thing is never the last thing because the worst thing has already been defeated?

“Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?” Jesus said, “You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do.” John 9:1-5 (The Message) Tragedy can strike so quickly and capriciously. While going about our everyday lives, in a moment, in the blink of an eye, the world can change. We’ve seen this happen with the emergence of the Coronavirus pandemic. The world has changed, our relationships with others have changed, the rhythms of…

I find myself wondering how such a proclamation is even possible until it hits me. The imperative statements found throughout this Psalm begin and end with God not us. The Lord makes, the Lord leads, the Lord restores, the Lord comforts, and the Lord prepares. We are the recipients and not the other way around.