Lord, teach me. . . .

True wealth is not of the pocket, but of the heart and of the mind. –Kevin Gates Two truths and a lie (You’ve played this game, right? I won this game once with these statements: I have completed four marathons in my lifetime; I was once a Miss USA candidate; and I was once Drew Barrymore’s babysitter. But this article isn’t about moi.) #1. Stewardship is something we should consider all year long , not just “in season.” True! God’s Creation clearly shows growth and focus during the springtime—but that doesn’t mean everything is on hold during the other three seasons. Summer capitalizes on what spring has begun. Autumn brings many fruits to bear, ready for harvest. And during the winter, as the creation cycle is complete, the earth rests, but is hardly inactive. #2. Jesus talked about money all the time in his ministry. True again! Some say Jesus taught about money more than he taught about any other issue! A quick Google popped up over fifty occasions when Jesu...

Seek God every morning. Trust God every moment. --Lailah Gifty Akita I was never very good at hide-and-seek as a child. When it was my turn to hide, I would duck behind a bush—only to find someone else already there, shoving me away. Go find your own spot! And when I did find a good hiding place, invariably, without fail, I would sneeze. Or cough. Found you! Then it would be my turn to seek. I would hide my eyes . . . count to ten. . . . Ready or not! Here I come! I would look and look, until finally, in desperation, I would return “Home”—only to see my friends casually lounging, waiting for me. What? WHAT?? We’ve been here all along! You must be blind. It seems, somehow, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Only now, some days, it’s God I play with. I can be having one of those days, wondering, Why do I feel so alone, so empty? God, I just can’t seem to find you—anywhere! Then I turn around, and there’s a stately buck in the backyard, blin...

The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it,  but in the end, there it is. –Winston Churchill I lost a mentor recently, a woman whom I never met, but whose life journey so paralleled my own in many ways, she felt like my baby sister. My much, much wiser baby sister. Rachel Held Evans was a writer and a theologian, a brilliant storyteller. I first “encountered” her in Monkey Town, aka, Dayton, Tennessee, where she grew up. Dayton is where the Scopes Monkey Trials were held; as a child of the conservative evangelical church, Rachel’s questions about evolution/ Scripture were seldom addressed as serious. She left the church and later returned. It was her relationship with God that kept her coming back, even when her relationship with the church went south. Even though she was 25 years younger, Rachel’s questions were often my questions; she gave permission to ask them: How can this story in the Bible be true if it doesn’t jive with s...

Giving is an act of generosity. Giving is sowing a seed. The seed will produce a great harvest of fruits. -- Lailah Gifty Akita Over the past few months, I have had some delightful conversations with a gentleman named Bert. Bert, in his words, definitely has more days behind him than he has remaining ahead. In other words, he is getting up in years. Now Bert, by his very nature, is a generous man. He is a faithful giver to his church, and is first in line making extra gifts when it’s needed and he has the resources to help. He says his income is limited. But with the income he has, he is determined to make a difference in the world. Look up the word generosity in the dictionary. You’ll see Bert’s picture, right there. But what I really love is his attitude. Bert tells me he wants to die with an empty bank account. And he hopes his last check before he dies bounces. (He laughed and added, “And I hope I don’t write it to you!”) After all, he says, he won’t...

If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way. –Napoleon Hill If you are a lectionary preacher (like I try to be), during Eastertide we see a dramatic shift. Suddenly we are no longer given a reading from the Old Testament; now, instead of looking back to our Jewish heritage, we are looking forward to the spread of the Good News, specifically at the Acts of the Apostles. And that can be challenging. I mean, seriously. We just heard about Thomas, the one who wants to see to believe (don’t we all), and now we are bombarded by story after story of hundreds of people coming to believe in Jesus and being healed—simply by hanging around Peter and the rest! How come we don’t see miracles like this happening all around us anymore? What am I not doing? Am I that weak in faith? Pause for a minute. Look around. Open your eyes. Miracles are happening everywhere. In my opinion, there is no such thing as a little miracle. They are all huge . A child spea...

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine! Let it shine! Let it shine! Let it shine! --Traditional gospel song Easter is over. We have said the words: Christ is risen! Christ is risen, indeed! We have sung the chorus: Hallelujah! We have celebrated the Resurrection of the Lord one more time. Now what? Jesus came into the world fully human in appearance. He dwelt among us, loved all whom he encountered, healed the sick, dined with the hungry, comforted those in pain. On the final night he spent with those closest to them, he reminded them, one last time, of the challenges to come. He also told them, yet again, how he expected them to live: A new commandment I have given you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love each other. (John 13:34) The season of Easter this year continues for seven Sundays. For the next seven weeks, I urge you to continue to celebrate the return of Love in our world—and to be that love. Sure, I have no do...

Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate in what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough. –Oprah Winfrey Hi, my name is Heidi—and I admit it: I am a bit of a Seder junkie. In a good way. I just really, really appreciate learning more about the holidays and traditions of faiths not my own. The Passover Seder is especially intriguing because as a Jew, Jesus celebrated Passover his whole life. So by learning more about this holiday, I am learning more about Jesus. (Plus—the desserts are yummy.) This past week, we again attended an Interfaith Passover Seder meal at a local Jewish temple, along with 440 other curious individuals from various denominations. We asked the Four Questions ( Why is this night like no other night? ), awkwardly sang and prayed in Hebrew, and sampled the traditional, symbolic foods of the Seder. We came away feeling like we had participated in something special, and like we knew a little more about Jes...