Recent Blogs

"She's in a better place." Have you ever been on the receiving end of these words after a loved one has died? Maybe it brought you comfort, or maybe you, like me, found anything but that in this response. Why couldn't this world have been a good place? What does it mean that "a better place" is away from loved ones? The power of grief is significant, particularly in the face of early, unexpected, and/or tragic loss. Each of us processes these losses differently, but grief is normal. Grief is a healthy response. It can also be maddening and devastating.

What comes to your mind when you hear the phrase, "coming out of darkness into the light?" Most of us create images in our mind's eye about what darkness means and its negative imagery like danger, insignificance, shady people, vagueness, and doubt that we were taught to associate with it. How entering the light is imagined also, and what light means as a metaphor for clarity, positivity, goodness, happiness, peacefulness, and calmness.

Usually, I'm a team player and am willing to try new things. Every now and then though, I am reminded of my boundaries and limits. When I was in college, I worked in the Center for Leadership. I created and facilitated workshops and retreats on different aspects of leadership with a team of other students for various student groups on campus. I loved this job! When I started, we had a week-long training before we got to work. So much of it was meaningful. We went over different leadership theories, over the mission and vision of our center, we built relationships, and more.

Our flesh, our earthly bodies, are the most common way that we experience this world. We do so specifically through our sensory perceptions. Human DNA made from the physical union of two people, over a nine-month gestation period will produce a baby made of extremely cute and cuddly baby skin and baby bones. But, it only happens once in a lifetime. Our spiritual self is the most common way that we experience the extraordinary connections that we all know, or can possibly know, and depend on to inform us about who we are intuitively in God's love.

What are those things in life that you had to memorize and recite? For many, there's the "Pledge of Allegiance." Often students in schools start their day off reciting this. For Christians, there's The Lord's Prayer which we say every week. Maybe you are in Scouts or another group that has a law or oath that you state at every meeting. You might not have it memorized, but if you are in worship on the first Sunday of the month, you're probably pretty familiar with the communion liturgy. As Methodists, we participate in communion at least once a month because it is sacred.

This week we prepare for Ash Wednesday and the end of Epiphany season. However, we first must stop to consider what the transfiguration of Jesus, in front of his disciples, on the high mountain does and consider the words that came from God in Matthew 17:5 that reads, "from the cloud a voice said, 'This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!'"

Throughout my life, I have been fortunate to have some truly incredible teachers. Each of these teachers had their own gifts. My elementary music school teacher? So very fun and able to connect with children in a way that had us all wanting to participate. My critical thinking professor in college? He cared enough to see the talents and needs of each student and support them in living out their potential, and through personal crises. My seminary Old Testament professor?

We all know that salt and light are essential to our daily life. We cannot live very long without either salt or light. What are the first images that come to your mind when you have heard or read that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world? Do you see images that show food, healing, warmth, and illumination, amongst other positive benefits, all of which give or sustain life?

Change happens in so many ways and often change includes some discomfort and tension. Even when that change isn't a conflict, this can be the case. When I was going through my growth spurt as a child, I remember those uncomfortable moments when I would be in-between sizes. One size was a little too snug and I'd find myself constantly pulling at my clothes. The next size up would require adjustments in length or wouldn't look quite right either.

God loves us and wants us to realize we are all a precious creation, God's children, and partners with Jesus in the caring, healing, teaching, and saving of this world. Identifying us as partners with Jesus is not how most of us see ourselves when we think about the work Jesus is doing to love and save humanity.