Denying ourselves is about aligning ourselves with God and the divine purpose, rather than aligning ourselves with the Empire and the forces of oppression. Taking up our cross is about choosing the qay of Jesus, about accepting the invitation to discipleship, no matter the cost. … More Taking Up Our Crosses
“Who do you say that I am?” Who has he been in your past? Who is Jesus now? Who do you hope Jesus will be in your future? These are questions to ponder for a lifetime. What religious language have you inherited and what traditions have been passed down? What “truths” and assumptions are we clinging to simply because they’re familiar and safe? Are we afraid to live the question because it might change us?
Peter, I think, ultimately understands that Jesus is just as powerfully present in the questions as in the answer. To love what is unsolved is not to deny Jesus his Lordship. It is to allow Jesus to enter more deeply into your heart than any impersonal claim about him will ever do. Jesus Invites us today to live the question, and he asks it over and over again to each one of us, every day, in love. … More Live the Question
Peter stepped out in boldness into the storm, and came toward Jesus. This is a lesson for us as disciples: Jesus wants us to step into the storm with him in boldness. We are invited to step into the storm of poverty with boldness and say that poverty can be ended. We are invited to step into the storm of the school-to-prison pipeline and believe that we can change it. We are invited to step into the storm of racism and misogyny and work with boldness to end them. We are invited to step into the storm, taking hold of Jesus’ outstretched hand, and come safely to the shore. … More Boldness in the Storm
LAST SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY (Year A)
When Jesus began to make his way up the mountain, Peter joins him, along with James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They stood with Jesus at the top and looked back over all that had happened, remembered being called become his followers. And now, as the stand at the top of the precipice, they look across the valleys ahead to Jerusalem. What will happen? Where was Jesus leading them?
Have you wondered where Jesus is leading you? Listen to him. … More “Listen to Him”
THE FEAST OF THE TRANSFIGURATION (Year A)
There is no place on earth that God’s love does not go. If we open our hearts to God’s Spirit and go looking for God, we will begin to see God’s presence all around us. Our transfiguration comes as our eyes are opened and our hearts changed. And the people who seemed so different from us before — the poor and the marginalized — we will see them as they really are: made in God’s image, just as we are; we will see how Jesus’ life was spent for them, just as it was for us. … More Transfigured for the World
THE LAST SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY (Year A)
We are invited to remember all that we have come to believe about Jesus. And we are invited to allow Jesus to transform those beliefs and reshape them. Our journey of faith and to faith is not yet over for there is more to Jesus and life with Jesus than we can imagine. … More More Than We Can Imagine
Grace is Everywhere 