It took me all this time, but I have learned my lesson. Here it is in a nutshell: ENJOY THE JOURNEY! Let me break it down for you…

When a little Rumi or Jinu shows up at your door for Halloween, or when your Sunday School classes won’t stop chanting “gonna be gonna be golden,” you don’t need to worry that demons are encroaching on God’s world. You can smile, knowing these kids have learned something about shared suffering and transformation and redemption.

You could never have imagined this in your grief, when we shared our sorrows in the death of your husband and your son, my husband. In those days I had only begun to understand the power in the bonds of family and in the God you knew so well. I now know the Lord deeply and intimately, as if the Lord was my birth mother who laid me on her shoulder and rocked me to sleep.

Independence and autonomy are not the gifts of baptism or communion. Instead, these sacraments remind us that God comes to us from beyond ourselves—that salvation is given, not earned.

The prophets offer us a glimpse of what could be, but visions are not guarantees. They demand something of us.

Maybe that’s the point. Maybe the story was never about the whale, but about a God who dares to ask us things we don’t yet know how to answer.

This is our past year in America, and now that we’ve reviewed it — can we finally consign the political past of 2024 to the dustbin of history?

Why shift our thinking to heaven when there is so much work we can do in this life to promote inclusion and break down barriers? If we work to create a more accessible world, less people would feel like they need to be healed.

I have learned God may ask things of us that seem weird and ridiculous... Once you receive the ask, meditate and pray for a moment, but by all means, obey!

A eulogy is different from many other words we share at a life-transition moment... It is a moment to reflect on the fullness of the person’s life, allowing others to have their experience of the departed.

Prayer without belief/faith is no good. Why are we praying if we don’t believe?

Decades after my first encounters with them, a couple of my childhood heroes continued to lift my spirit and entertain my soul. These two people contributed, at least in some small way, to forming my belief system and maybe even some aspects of my personality.

Michael Chan revisits books from the Bible to remind us that those who forget history can be doomed to repeat it.

Theologians and practitioners have used the word “liminal space” or “liminal time” to describe these experiences. They are the point at which you become aware that a transition is about to occur. Liminal literally means, “threshold”. Think of walking through a doorway and going through/over a threshold. You are neither in one room nor the other; you are in-between. However you can see both, one behind and in front.

The task at hand for young people of faith is to draw from our traditions to steward this change—this social transformation—towards the redemptive possibilities of loving exceedingly, seeking justice, practicing hospitality, and giving generously. In doing so, we might reimagine and create anew the means through which our communities join together across differences.

All Saints Sunday gives us a very personal way to talk about the present and future by talking about the past. Who are we? Who do we want to be? Those saints from our past give us a way to talk about where we are and where we are headed.

What a marvel it is to have a child. There really are no words to do it justice. A few of you have expressed interest in what parenthood will do to my sense of rest. I’m sure that will be a lifelong journey, but here are a few quick insights