The psalmist says God “touches the mountains and they smoke.” I grew up at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and we often visited the Great Smoky Mountains along the...

We often say that preaching should comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. How often though do you think of the Spirit as the afflicter? We translate the Greek word Paraclete...

Waiting is hard. Waiting for God is particularly difficult, especially as the whole of creation seems to groan in pain. We hear of violence, political unrest, and injustice all around us....

As I engage the world outside my parish, I often hear the stories of spiritually curious skeptics and those hostile to all things spiritual. Folks frequently say that what they see...

The word religion comes from a Latin root that means to bind or connect. This reconnecting seems at the heart of what Jesus desires as he prepares to finish the period...

I have long been a fan of the Wordsworth poem, “The World Is Too Much with Us.” We constantly feel the strain of what living in this world can do to...

Early in ministry, I worked with two young adult staffers, brilliant both in humor and intellect, who discovered a Jesus action figure in the church storage. Little Jesus got into all...

When deep betrayal and grief occur in a faith community, it can be difficult to decide how to respond. Any act of betrayal directly impacts some, but it also indirectly impacts...

Life in the community of faith isn’t easy. Following Jesus doesn’t make human beings less complicated. In fact, if anything, healthy spirituality points out more of our dysfunction as we become...

In a world that seems more and more committed to the notion of certainty—and more and more willing to do anything to get it—psalms like this one seem to be a...