Rooted and Grounded in Christ’s Love
Mark Schloneger
Giant sequoias can grow to over three hundred feet tall, weigh over twelve million pounds, and are known to have lived over three thousand years. In terms of sheer size, there is no other tree that comes close to the giant sequoia, and there are trees standing today that were alive when David became king […]
The Following Christ
Mark Schloneger
It has been almost twenty years since I’ve seen a little girl named Dianora. I think about her, though. In my mind, Dianora will always be a baby. Her grandmother, Alicia, cradled her in her arms when she knocked on the door of our house when we lived in Mozambique. She was looking for my […]
Seeing is Believing
Richard A. Kauffman
There are four post-resurrection stories in this, the last chapter of Luke. This morning’s text is the next-to-last one. It immediately follows the account of the two disciples walking on the Emmaus road who didn’t recognize Jesus until he broke bread, blessed it, and gave it to them. Three things interest me about this morning’s […]
The Bread and the Circus
Mark Schloneger
A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing food from the first fruits to the man of God: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, “Give it to the people and let them eat.” But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred people?” So [Elisha] repeated, […]
Building Our Capacity for Trust
Dan Schrock
I am not speaking anything new when I say that our level of collective anxiety may be higher than at any point in the last 50 years. The sources of our collective anxiety are many. Example: 4 million acres have burned on the west coast, with a gigafire called the “August Complex” raging in northern […]
Wet Feet First
Mark Schloneger
Many people didn’t know it was possible, but, against all odds, I’ve done it: I have crossed another threshold of pandemic fatigue. And, you know, based on several conversations that I have had, I’d guess the same is true for many of you. Last week felt like a very long month. I’m going to do […]
In the Valley of the Shadow
Mark Schloneger
“Jesus wept.” Jesus wept. That’s it. “Jesus wept” is the verse that I’d blurt out when I was asked by my childhood Sunday school teachers to share scripture that I had memorized. A little smart-alecky, I know, a sad part of my checkered history. And to you children’s Sunday school teachers who are watching, all […]
The Call of the Midwife
Mark Schloneger
We are respectable people, right? We dress respectably. We act respectably. We speak respectably. We’re well-read, well-known, well-connected. well-adjusted, well-intentioned, well-informed, well-groomed, and, if we must say so ourselves, well-respected. We’re respectively respectably reputable.
Nagging God
Mark Schloneger
“Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.” Sometimes, Luke makes things easy for us, or at least he appears to. Before we even get to the parable, before we even read the story, Luke provides us with the moral, the meaning, the golden nugget of […]
Keep on a Prayin’
Mag Richer Smith
I met her in Guatemala… a mother of 8 and a persistent woman! When she and her husband decided to build a home for their growing family in Guatemala City, she did the paper work for access to land and petitioned for a building permit and WAITED… When nothing happened she kept showing up at […]
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