Tag: Shalom

  • Respond – The Beatitudes bless us in seeing

    Respond – The Beatitudes bless us in seeing

    I don’t know what the disciples expected when they followed Jesus up the mountain. Maybe a great wisdom. They hadn’t been following him long. They visited a few cities in the region. So they were just getting to know the man. And he goes up the mountain. They follow. And he unveils the very dream…

  • GOD’s Greatest Gifts

    GOD’s Greatest Gifts

    This is the life Jesus talks about, the life GOD reveals, the life the Holy Spirit inspires us to live. A life of a revealed GOD and the presence of Shalom. A life of hope and opportunity to serve and be served; to love and be loved. A life of true living. How Jesus reveals…

  • Christianity Is More Than Kindness

    Christianity Is More Than Kindness

    We aren’t supposed to be kind. We’re not. Jesus didn’t die for us to be kind. He also didn’t die for us to be dicks, either. Or to fight over land. Or call people names. But being kind, being nice, that isn’t it. Being a good person, a kind and generous person is a truly important thing.…

  • Want

    Want

    WANT As a supporter of gun control, I’m often asked “If a man breaks in and has your wife at gunpoint, wouldn’t you want a gun?” Want? For what? To kill? What I would want is a howitzer. Or Jason Bourne. Or to have Blade’s sword and his powers. Or the police. Or maybe just…

  • Peace

    Peace

    I’m not sure there is a more foundational element to the Christian faith than peace. We want peace, we crave peace. Peace to us is safety and security. It is silence and quiet. It is solitude in chaos. It is the sound of birds chirping and streams bubbling when we are resting in the grass.…

  • Do

    Do

    Jesus’s departing prayer incites a different kind of revolution Easter 7B  |  John 17:6-19   A Strange Prayer I might get into trouble for saying this, but please don’t pray like Jesus. If you take John 17 as your example and try to learn to pray like this, then, I don’t know if we can…

  • Forgiving GOD

    Forgiving GOD

    how our understanding of forgiveness is too small a Homily for Proper 19A  |  Text: Matthew 18:21-35   The volume of forgiveness When Peter asks about forgiveness, about the volume of forgiveness, it triggers a cascade of central teachings to our faith. Teachings that are the foundation of everything. On the surface, it is a simple enough…

  • A Prayer for all of us on this, the true Mother’s Day

    A Prayer for all of us on this, the true Mother’s Day

      On June 2nd, 142 years ago, Julia Ward Howe worked to move all Mothers in support of peace, and bring an end to the viciousness and evil of war. She wrote: Arise, then, women of this day ! Arise, all women who have hearts, Whether our baptism be of water or of tears ! Say firmly :…