My rooster often crows loudest on a Monday. I don’t mean to imply I deny Jesus on a weekly basis. The rooster I speak of is the inner critic, the ever-present whisper of self-doubt I try so hard to keep silent all week as I go about my pastoral work. The rooster can leave me questioning my call, my giftedness and my effectiveness as a pastor. We are wise to know what to do when the rooster comes crowing. … More Monday Morning Rooster
Our friends Sarah and Doug are back with another deep dive discussion of a meditation I am preparing for an upcoming pastor’s conference. Looking at John 21, we explore God’s grace in the midst of our worst failures, and the invitation to throw ourselves overboard into the ocean of God’s love and forgiveness. What is Jesus’ main qualification for his servants? Listen and find out. … More Podcast #198 – Job Interview With Jesus
Let’s dig into Genesis 3, a text ripe and juicy with deep insights. Humanity, estranged from God after disobeying, feels exposed and fearful, hiding from God. But God seeks them out, asking where they are not for location, but for the state of their souls. They are covered in grace, as God clothes them, revealing His relentless pursuit of His wayward children. … More Evening Breeze in the Garden
While carpenters and civil engineers, building codes and inspectors have good reasons for requiring straight walls and level foundations, the Creator of the universe seems to have other ideas. Humans prefer flat roads and level bridges and right angles and flush edges and symmetrical designs. Meanwhile, God delights in crooked lines and twisted branches and snaking rivers and sloping hillsides and asymmetrical formations. … More Crooked Lines
The “truth” has always been a slippery thing, easily manipulated, easily spun, misplaced or lost in the couch cushions of public discourse. The atomic, bone rattling, earth-shaking radioactive Truth Bomb of the ages is that since the incarnation of the Word, all human ideas, arguments, concepts, abstractions, formulas, presentations, editorials, principles, etc. of “truth” must now stand before and buckle its knees in the presence of the Truth Incarnate. … More Truth Bomb
“God forgives me with the compassion of his eyes, when my back is turned to him. For he takes my head between his hands, and turns my face to him. And though I struggle against these hands, they do not let go until he has smiled me into smiling; and that is the forgiveness of God.” … More He Smiled Me Into Smiling
If I’m being honest, my heart has been condemning me quite a bit lately. My heart desires to honor God by living a life of love and acting in ways worthy of Christ. But I keep falling short. I keep missing the mark. This week’s lectionary text brings us into a section of 1 John that is equal measures reassuring and unsettling. … More Ease Up, My Heart
One Maundy Thursday, I found myself at a bonfire with neighbors, reflecting on the contrast between church rituals and the neighbors’ gathering. Feeling torn between my identity as a pastor and fitting in, I chose to partake in the communion, finding beauty in their fellowship and realizing the importance of embracing the world as Jesus did. … More Bonfire, Beer & Bourbon on Maundy Thursday
Last night was a sweet kind of homecoming for me. I was invited back to speak at the church of my childhood, where I was baptized and confirmed and the early seeds of my faith were sown. I brought my two boys along to show them where it all began for me. Here’s what I shared. … More Goodness & Mercy Follows
With historical imagination and pastoral sensitivity, my new short story probes the inner turmoil of one of history’s most tragic figures: Judas Iscariot. What drew him to Jesus? What led to his infamous betrayal? Most importantly, does his death by suicide place him outside of God’s grace or more directly in his embrace? Find out Sunday at 5pm! … More Love Cut the Rope: The Tragic Tale of Judas
My teacher riffs on one of my favorite Bonhoeffer books – a book that has helped keep me grounded in the fellowship of “cracked eikons” I’m blessed to serve and at the eucharistic table I’m privileged to attend. The third quotation near the bottom is emblazoned on my pastoral soul, my ecclesiological north star. … More Loving the Church That Is (S. McKnight)
While we may be foolhardy and fumble footed in our efforts to bear fruit, God wants to step into our weed-infested lives and dilapidated dreams to grow something in us! And if God can make a wrinkly 99 year old on viagra exceedingly fruitful, then imagine what kind of a beautiful garden he can make out of your life? … More Exceedingly Fruitful
Let’s talk about hobbits and dwarves, wine barrels and baptism today, asking Paul’s question: “Into what were you baptized?” Like the Bilbo and the dwarves held captive by the Wood-elves, we need to be dunked into the barrel of baptism to rescue us from the bonds of the World, the Flesh and the Devil. … More Barrels Out of Bonds
Peter stands naked in the boat, both for practical fishing purposes and to symbolize a man laid completely bare before God-in-Christ. Instead of hiding his shameful nakedness, he wraps himself in a garment of grace, plunges himself into the waters of forgiveness, and swims into the arms of his loving friend. … More Laid Bare, Yet Lavishly Loved
Let’s imagine ourselves into the story and join this strange cast of characters sitting around Jesus’ table. Which of these characters do you relate to most? … More A Table for Misfits and Ragamuffins
This is my second grade son Isaak’s painting. I think it’s majestic and speaks to me on various levels. I wonder what message it sends to you? Even better, what Scripture might it evoke? … More Christmas Snow (Isaak’s Painting)
Those of you who read me, knowing that I don’t enter into political discourse very often, may not know Kirsten Powers. I have read her for years because she is what I like most in political commentary: clear-minded, fiercely so at times, yet reasonable and logical. … More Under the Gaze of Grace (Scot McKnight)
A few words in response to the Derek Chauvin trial verdict by myself and NWC Superintendent Mark Stromberg. … More A Word on the Chauvin Trial Verdict
In our “Beatitudes of Bethlehem” Advent series, we’re looking at how the familiar characters in the Christmas story already foreshadow and embody the Beatitudes Jesus would launch his upside-down Kingdom ministry talking about. This message looks at Blessed are the Merciful and Zechariah’s speechlessness in the face of God’s tender mercy. … More WATCH: Blessed are the Speechless
The Bethlehem Revolution is for all who find themselves at the end of their rope; for those who have hit the wall; for all who have climbed to the top of the ladder only to be pushed off, and can’t find the strength to start climbing again. … More Beatitudes of Bethlehem – Intro
The secret storm raging within me is often greater than all the storms battering the world around me. If you think a global pandemic, racial unrest, and political divisiveness is a lot to handle, try living one day inside the soul of a person at war with themselves. … More Surfing on Grace, Restoring the Soul
Jonnie Goodmanson is a Christian teacher, preacher and Holy Yoga guru at our church. She is a powerful voice leading people into a more whole-bodied life of worship. People get set free when she opens her mouth or puts pen to paper. I hope to share more of her thoughts in the future. By Jonnie … More Rebuking the Ghost (Jonnie Goodmanson)
The Book of Jonah is a Sunday school favorite, yet hidden beneath its cartoon like drama lies a very scathing socio-religious warning—a warning aimed at the people who would claim to be on “God’s side.” … More Shipwrecked 2: Jonah and the Despised Other
Jesus offers more than a small puddle of spiritual refreshment that appears momentarily but vanishes quickly in the afternoon sun. … More When the Waters Stir
Jeremy L. Berg 