A Pastor in The Northwest

When followers of Jesus affirm "Jesus is Lord", that reality is life-altering! He alone calls the shots. His agenda is our agenda, and, well, in the face of any world power or leader, Jesus and his power is always greater, and allegiance to Him only is the way forward. In NT Wright and Michael Bird's book Jesus and the Powers , I read this powerful assessment,  "Even to whisper ‘Jesus is Lord’, then, carried with it an air of challenge, that perhaps Caesar’s lordship, with its pretention to divine status and unrivalled supremacy, spoke not to invincibility but to idolatry. This is precisely why the pagan philosopher Celsius accused the Christians of being guilty of ‘religious rantings’ or ‘seditious sayings’ by devoting themselves exclusively to Jesus and refusing to honour local and imperial deities.51 If so, then, it means that Paul was not a travelling evangelist offering people a new religious experience, but an ambassador for a king-in-waiting, establishing cell

Everyone must 'bear their own cross' We've heard this before, right? Maybe these days, in our current cultural moment, this phrase is lost or misunderstood. It comes from Jesus' statement recorded by Luke in Luke 9:23 (ESV): And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Initially, this sounds quite troubling right? A cross, well, that was a one-way trip to one's death - a horrible death to be exact. Then there's the carrying - a burden to be handled daily. Ugh. However, if we hear this from a first-century perspective, we might find some hope in that statement. Certainly, there is a metaphor in Jesus' words, yet, for Him, this was an actual reality. The Greek word for 'deny' means a refusing to follow or consent - basically, our way will lead to our demise but Jesus' ways, lead to life! Then, the daily carrying of a cross would invoke the vivid picture of someone fully losi

For a good portion of my life, I've been in a hurry. Hurry to get work done so I can play. Hurry to find the right person to marry to get that settled. Hurry to find success in my career. Hurry to accomplish and conquer and achieve.  This led to many, many mistakes, heartaches, and even migraines. Ugh. However, now that I've hit my 50s, I've come to recognize the immense power of slowing down, downshifting, and allowing other people to thrive and achieve. I've learned the genius of Sabbath rest, of quiet silence, and of contemplative prayer and fasting.  In the Scriptures, many seasons of waiting, rest, and the silence of God occur. At times God is on the move and He uses humans to do great things, but more often than I realized, He uses the downtime to shape, mold and build up our faith muscles.  God might lead us into major activity or lead us beside still waters (Ps 23). Moses had years of no recorded leading or communication by God. Abraham had to navigate vague dir

I've been thinking lately about the earth and the role of the natural world in our Spiritual lives. Specifically how should followers of Jesus respond to caring for and protecting the earth. What role do we play? There was a spiritual leader named Hildegard of Bingen (1098 – 1179) that became the abbess of a Benedictine community. She became inspired to connect God's Creation with our spiritual lives. Her term for the grace of God inherent in all living things was viriditas, or greenness, endearing her in our generation to followers of creation spirituality. Hildegard’s holistic approach to God and humanity is relevant today, particularly to those longing for wholeness and healing for all of creation. She wrote, "We shall awaken from our dullness and rise vigorously toward justice. If we fall in love with creation deeper and deeper, we will respond to its endangerment with passion.” We know God's hand was creatively involved in crafting this planet we live on and it

Freedom is a powerful word to me. In fact, when I think about the idea of freedom, I think of possibilities and potential. Freedom feels like release and growth and opportunity.  Jesus spoke about freedom being linked to knowing the truth. In his words to some of the first century Jewish leaders, He said,  “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)  In the other New Testament writings, there are statements like: 2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 1 Peter 2:16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. And in Galatians, Paul, the writer, spoke of being free from the tyranny of trying to live out the law perfectly through faith in Jesus.  He wrote, Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. And, Ga

Have you ever experienced overflow? Wait, let me ask that better, have you ever had something overflow in a good way? Maybe a filled to overflow favorite beverage or a financial windfall or that overflowing handful of M&Ms? In the Scriptures we learn of a spiritual overflow - a life of faith that spills into every area of our lives - in loving others (1 Thessalonians 3:12), in thankfulness (Colossians 2:7), and in serving and giving (2 Corinthians 8:2; 9:12) and, last but certainly not least, hope (Romans 15:13)! Is your life overflowing with God's goodness today? No, this isn't just about our good works but about an overflowing of God's goodness in our lives to others? As one devotional I read the other day said, "It's not about overwork but overflow, and it has already made all the difference in my life." The hope of Jesus and new life has invaded our souls through God's grace and love, which empowers us into OVERFLOW mode! As Psalm 23 (NIV) state