Where are you, God? Don’t you see? Can’t you hear? There is so much suffering, injustice, oppression.   It’s happening the world over. There is war, genocide, and destruction running rampant through the streets. Here, in my own country, there is upheaval and turmoil as racist, capitalistic, patriarchal people throw the country into utter chaos.… Read more

I have notebooks full of church curriculum. Bible studies. Sermons. Worship events. I even have the notes for a discipleship class/program I helped put together. I spent a lot of time in my twenties thinking about how to help people be better Christians, how to help people get the right doctrine, how to help people… Read more

A meditation on Acts 9.1-20 and Revelation 5.11-14. How often do we breathe out murder? Violence is our second language—often our first. We respond with dominance, anger, might, and all the tools of violence that have infiltrated our psyche since birth. Someone’s disagreeing with you? Shout louder. Someone standing in your way? Push past them.… Read more

The body of the King of Life hung dead on the cross. Violence, fear, and the Roman Empire had executed the Christ, the hope of Israel, indeed the Hope of the world. His body was shredded, pierced, raw, broken. Death had enveloped the living God. A man stepped forward into Pilate’s court. He was a… Read more

This is a sermon I wrote for the Llama Pack based on Luke 22.28-40 and 22.14-27. Listen to the sermon here: There are always two processions. One is driven by a war horse and a cohort of violence and militaristic strength. This procession thunders down the road, with announcements of security for those who are… Read more

A meditation on Luke 23.39-43. He hung on a cross on Friday of Passover week. The romans had nailed him there after a trial that he knew he was going to lose. He had been put there as an example, a public and vulgar display of power the Roman empire wielded. The message was clear:… Read more

I don’t feel like I have a substantive faith. I’ve been let down by my expectations about God too many times. I know these expectations aren’t God, but they are my concept of God, and as such, dictate what I’m putting my faith in. When one of these flimsy expectations shatters and inevitably lets me… Read more

I grew up as the bully’s target. I got searing put downs for my glasses, for my grades, for my lack of interest in sports. One bully went as far as to make fun of the fact that my mom died when I was two. It was incessant and hurtful. One of the times when… Read more

The office was small and cramped. A desk took up most of the room, but there was a couch. White, if I remember correctly. I was sitting on it, talking to Jerry. As he faced me, we discussed this thing I was doing. Maybe it was a church plant; perhaps it was just an alternative… Read more

The Utah day was sunny, not too warm. I was feeling well and enjoying it. I prayed my rosary as I walked, which I often did in my early twenties. Everything seemed right in the world. As I prayed, “The whole earth is filled with his glory,” my eyes fell on the dead, decomposing bird on the… Read more