My husband and I watched a Ted Talk given by Margaret Heffernan on Monday night for his new job. And the speaker used a study as the illustrative story that really stuck in my mind. This study called Super Chickens was first conducted by Dr. William Muir and it studied pecking order in chickens. In … [Read more…]
Light is such an important part of the Christmas season, even in our scriptures. God and Christ are portrayed as light illuminating the paths of righteousness for those who seek. Christ was born into a world that was run by violence. The Jewish people were subjugated by the Romans and a violent unstable despot was … [Read more…]
I love the annunciation scriptures because it depicts the shear grace with which Mary handles being approached by the angels of the Lord and finding out that as an unwed teenager she is pregnant. And she is not only pregnant but she is to bear the Christ child. No pressure. The average person, I feel … [Read more…]
True hope can be a very powerful thing. Hope can bring out the very best in us. Biblical hope is different from desiring and wishing for something to occur. My Biblical dictionary defines hope as “trustful expectation, particularly with reference to the fulfillment of God’s promises. It’s the anticipation of a favorable outcome under God’s … [Read more…]
My holidays are always jam packed with events, visiting, and friends home for the holidays. Every year it is a mad dash to figure out Christmas gifts, thanksgiving plans, cooking and baking, birthday gifts and celebrations, church events, and by the way add in seeing our friends when they are home seeing their families. And … [Read more…]
When I was growing up, my brothers and I had a knack for getting into trouble. We were always rolling around like a pack of puppies and inevitably one of us would run into the house crying and bleeding. But my parents had a way with dealing with us and parental disappointment in our family. … [Read more…]
We have all at one point or another experienced the misjudgments and sometimes even hate of another person. As a woman in the ministry, I have experienced quite a bit of it. One of those times, happened to be while I was still in my last year of seminary and I was doing supply preaching … [Read more…]
Last week I mentioned how little Will Bassett asked me what God sounded like and how would he know if God was talking to him. Jewish rabbinical tradition tells us to look towards nature for the word of God. We are told to look towards nature for our heavenly inspiration. I love to go out … [Read more…]
Our world is constantly moving, changing, evolving, and in a state of becoming something else. Our lives too are often found to be in constantly flux. Babies are born, young people get married, families grow, and people pass away and families shrink. In the world, people fight one another, wars begin and wars end, world … [Read more…]
As Christians, we very rarely speak of the importance of Sabbath rest and what it really means. And I have spent the past week reflecting upon how other peoples honor Sabbath rest. My father-in-law’s family, who range from conservation to orthodox Jews, takes very seriously the notion of Sabbath. On the Sabbath my husband’s uncles … [Read more…]
