By Jesus’ model, when the world turns to selfishness and judgment, we do not overcome those trials by returning aggression for aggression; we do not give cruelty for cruelty.

As we enter into this season of Lent, what lies and falsehoods will you let go of and how will you be held in the love of God in the community you find yourselves?

This is why we do this. This is why we gather together, and this practice of holding one another in both the joy and pain every week is to affirm that we don’t only understand God as being in the highlights, but God’s presence is indeed part of our interwoven existence encompassing all parts of the spectrum.

The miracle is this:  Jesus knows how to win in such a way that no one should lose. 

Despite the story the world tells us, blessing cannot be measured by material possessions, corporate titles, prestigious degrees, or anything we can earn or achieve. To be blessed is to be stripped of the illusion that we can save ourselves.

To continue the growth of these last years, we must now accompany the widening of our congregation, with a deepening of the same …

Every 5-6 years February 2nd, the Feast of the Presentation, falls on a Sunday. The day where Simeon and Anna recognize Jesus’ identity and call him a “light to the nations.” Where do you see the light of Christ? Who has been a light bearer for you?

Sensing—knowing—believing—you can choose your own adventure here– that the divine is not away from us, not on some far-off horizon, but in the very perimeter of our own body’s warmth and breath, comforts and disturbs.

Whatever their social or emotional or partisan track, I recognize these postcards from the edge of a new political season will not be entirely untrue. Yet, I also know those posts will not tell the whole story…

Sharing in the eternity of the Eucharistic table, we stand and kneel with all those who have done the same before us and alongside us – we ‘actualize’ the past in a way that opens new possibilities in our present.