Lord, teach me. . . .

It is not the beauty of a building you should look at; it’s the construction of the foundation that will stand the test of time. –David Allen Coe A few weeks ago, I had been at the labyrinth at University Hospitals and was walking back towards the Church in the Circle, deep in thought. I paused, and really looked at the Holy Oilcan. Our landmark steeple is currently covered in scaffolding. Workers busily moved up and down, behind and around, shoring up broken places, restoring wholeness to this place we call home . It’s important work, repairing our cathedral. What’s even more important is what’s going inside UCUMC—and I don’t mean the renovation of our chancel. Our building is magnificent, and the restoration and renovation will makes us better able to truly say all are welcome, all the time. But it’s the tireless, never-ending work of the Holy Spirit happening in our hearts that truly takes my breath away. Every Sunday, our hearts are drawn back here. Every S...

If we don’t have a sense of the primacy of God, we will never get it right, get life right, get our lives right. Not God at the margins; not God as an option; not God on the weekends. God at center and circumference; God first and last; God, God, God. –Eugene Peterson Something happens this time of year. Can you feel it? Summer is over, school has resumed. The Rally Day hot dogs were delicious—and now, almost imperceptibly, the busyness resumes. It feels as if we are beginning a mad downhill rush towards “the holidays” earlier every year. Stores try to convince we really need this—and that—and we rush from place to place, event to event with scarcely a chance to breathe, let alone stop. But we need to stop. Research shows, time and again, that taking a break, or observing Sabbath (even if it’s on a Tuesday afternoon) results in increased productivity and an overall improvement in physical and mental health. We feel better. Taking Sabbath doesn’t mean ceasing all ac...

There are things known, and there are things unknown,  and in between are the doors of perception.   –Aldous Huxley The news continues to challenge its listeners, especially those of us who believe: 1) that God’s very nature is Love; and 2) that God is ever-present and all-knowing. Even aside from the horrible, newsworthy global events of recent weeks, there are a lot of things going on, right here in our own community, that are hard to understand. Children go to bed hungry. People turn angry and violent with one another. Young people become bullies, relentlessly picking on one another. The pain grows intolerable; a child (or adult) cannot take it anymore and ends his (or her) own life, too, too soon. We gasp; we blink; we weep. And in our confusion and anger, we begin to question: If God is ever-present and all-knowing, why does this God allow hunger in the world? If God’s nature is love, why is there disease and violence? Why? The answers are not mine ...

When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost. –Billy Graham Remember that big box from elementary school? It had big letters hand-written on the side in Magic Marker: LOST & FOUND . It became the “resting place” for things no one knew what to do with: one mitten with the thumb beginning to unravel; a pair of glasses held together with adhesive tape; a spiral notebook left behind on the school bus. All these things, once valuable, now seem to have outlived their usefulness. But once in awhile, someone persists. That mitten, for instance, turns out to be a child’s favorite, knit by his grandmother, and when it is reunited with the child who lost it, that child’s joy is unmistakable! Matthew’s gospel recounts the parable of the lost sheep (Matthew 18). The Good Shepherd, we are reminded, cares so deeply for the whole flock that if even one lamb wanders off, the shepherd will leave the ninety-nine to ...

A blessing is a circle of light drawn around a person to protect, heal and strengthen them.” –John O’Donohue Sometimes we use a word freely and often, and may not have really stopped to think about what it means. For me, blessing is one of those words. The “dictionary definition” makes blessing something God does, and to bless something is to ask God’s favor on someone or something. But in Paul’s letter to the church at Rome, he turns this idea around a little. Drawing from God’s calling of Abram (Genesis 12), Paul charges the church not simply to ask God’s blessing, but to be God’s blessing. As we work, as we play—as we love, Paul reminds us to step down and step back. It’s not about us. It is about who God created us to be. As the Body of Christ, we each have a role to play: some are teachers; some, preachers; some offer abundant hospitality. We are not all called to serve or love in the same way. As Paul puts it (via Eugene Peterson’s The Message ): Love from the...