This week’s lectionary reflection focuses on Exodus 20:1-17 and Psalm 19, outlining God’s laws and our relationship with them. It discusses different approaches to rules, emphasizing the importance of understanding and following them. Pastor Mike uses the metaphor of car maintenance to illustrate the benefits of adhering to God’s rules and the support they provide during life’s challenges. … More Rules and that New Car Smell
It is important to love one’s neighbor — but in America, individual freedom is often more prized than biblical admonitions. … More Wearing Masks, Loving Neighbors & the Mark of the Beast
“This is going to be the hardest and saddest week of most Americans’ lives,” Surgeon General Jerome M. Adams said yesterday. This is a sober note to begin Holy Week on. … More A Holy Week to Remember
What if as long as we are lifting up these warriors in prayer, we are gaining ground and holding back the enemy; but whenever we drop our hands and cease praying, the virus gains more ground? … More Quarantine Letters: Raise Your Arms!
The true mark of Christian love isn’t revealed merely when we have nothing to gain, but precisely when we have everything to lose. … More Quarantine Letters: Illusion of Civility
There are many lessons to take from the famous story of David and Goliath, but one is the illusion of strength. The COVID-19 virus, like David’s small stones, is revealing the true fragility of systems and structures we thought were so strong. … More Quarantine Letters: Illusion of Strength
The current COVID-19 pandemic is revealing the limits of our independence. Despite our cultural rhetoric, we are biologically, psychologically, and spiritually communal creatures. Autonomy is an illusion. From the very beginning, God designed us to exist interdependently. … More Quarantine Letters: Illusion of Independence
As the COVID-19 virus is spreads across our land and people practice social distancing, I’m reading about how the news of Jesus’ healing power spread so rapidly across Galilee, forcing Jesus to seek some social distance from the crushing crowds! … More Quarantine Letters: Get A Grip!
So much of our growth happens through pain, and that pain comes in two forms. Pain we choose is called a discipline, while pain we do not choose is called a trial. Neither kind should be wasted. … More Quarantine Letters: Illusion of Control
This spreading virus will reveal a lot about our national infrastructure, the strength of our healthcare system, the resilience of our economy, and the character and strength of our government leaders. Yet, for Christians, it will reveal just the “stuff” of which our faith is made. … More Quarantine Letters: Peter’s Challenge
Insofar as this pandemic can help us kick bad habits and establish new and healthier lifestyle rhythms, we are experiencing what I want to call a “holy disruption.” … More Quarantine Letters: Holy Disruption
We need calm hearts, ears tuned to God’s frequency and a mighty fortress when the world is coming unhinged, not when we’re meditating at a quiet retreat center! We need Jesus’ calming presence in our boat not when the sun is shining and the fish are biting, but when the storm is raging and the boat is sinking. … More Quarantine Letters: Be Still
I woke up this morning with the sunrise in my eyes, blinding me as I rolled over to turn off my alarm. I thought about the brightness of that sunrise and felt this giddy surge of excitement that I have good news to share with people who are afraid. … More Quarantine Letters: Soldiers of Light
During this COVID-19 outbreak, I’m taking up my electronic quill and ink, and continuing the long legacy of sending pastoral letters to the people of God living in uncertain times. … More Letters to the Church in Quarantine
As the Coronavirus spreads across the globe and with it the contagion of fear, I want to take up the shepherd’s pen and follow in a long line of letter writing pastors who sought to guide and encourage their sheep in times of trial and testing. … More Letters in Uncertain Times
Kingdom Harbor 