Picking up where we stopped on Saturday —- “Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song.” Pope John Paul II said that, and I believe him. Do you?

Last Sunday we thought together here about God’s Earth Day. Someone, and I’m embarrassed to admit I’m not sure who it was, sent me a list of simple, practical things to do. With gratitude to that anonymous source, here’s something you and I can do to practice what I’m calling God’s Earth Day (G.E.D.) Living…

“Do not abandon yourselves to despair,” he said. Confession time. Let’s be honest: you and I have done that. We’ve “abandon(ed) ourselves.” Worse yet, we’ve “abandon(ed) ourselves to despair.” Let’s live with that for today. Let’s allow that Confession to just be what it is today. Let’s pick up right there tomorrow.

Gary Cox is a long time real life friend who’s a teacher, church choir director, actor, director of stage plays, and on and on goes the list. You’d love him!  He recently wrote this and graciously gave me permission to share it with you here. — I keep seeing posts that say we need to…

“We’ve found that our marriage is stronger and our life together is sweeter because we believe and behave in ways that make us one,” says Rachel Cruz in her financial advice book Live Your Life Not Theirs. Quick Inventory:  Is her phrase “we believe and behave in ways that make us one” true of false…

“We’ve found that our marriage is stronger and our life together is sweeter because we believe and behave in ways that make us one,” says Rachel Cruz in her book Live Your Life Not Theirs. In that big leather book still in most of our homes it says this: “a man will leave his father…

There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy is the title of an old hymn. It celebrates our Lord’s lavish love. And it’s peppy, so you know right away I’d like it. It took on even greater meaning for me after an incident in a church service. The Worship Leader introduced it as There’s a WILDness in God’s…

The Rev. Brent Mustoe is a friend in real life from my seminary days in Kentucky. Now retired, he’s served the church in a variety of ways, including being a District Superintendent. It’s with his gracious permission that I share this. He wrote recently of navigating a lifestyle change. He intended to conclude with the liturgical…

“Some of our best friends have fur.” Wish I’d written that. Wish I’d seen that on a church sign. Wish I’d used that in a Service of the Blessing of The Pets. There’s always next time. “Some of our best friends have fur” is a line from an ad for a senior residence center. Frequently…

Marilyn Cunningham is active in our church. She shared this with our Easter Earthquake Bible Study recently, and graciously gave me permission to share it here with you — When Rev. Clayton Coffey was her brother’s pastor at the United Methodist Church in Sandoval, IL, someone said this regarding a recently deceased friend: “Well, at…