What Is Anxiety? Adam Young, a licensed clinical social worker and author of the podcast, The Place We Find Ourselves, describes anxiety as the experience we feel when our bodies has a deep reservoir of “unfelt emotions.” Anxiety is often linked to experiences in the past where we’ve disallowed ourselves to feel and experience certain emotions such as grief, sadness, or anger. Because we’ve pushed those important emotions beneath the surface, anxiety is the feeling of not allowing ourselves to experience those core emotions. Apple Podcasts Spotify Anxiety is not the same as fear. Fear is ..read more

Bible Snippets Series I’ve been meditating and musing on the chapters of John 13, 14, and 15 for a while. in John 14:8, Philip says “show us the Father” = “let us see God!” when he is talking to Jesus. Jesus responds that to him HIM (“I am the way and the truth and the life”) is to know God. So I was interested in carrying through the logic of some of his statements. Philip wants to SEE God (John 14:8) Jesus says to SEE God, see Jesus (John 14:9) Jesus says to see Jesus, is to obey Jesus (John 14:21) Jesus says to obey Jesus is to love one another (John 13:34) So we see God in this world whe ..read more

Climate change is happening. It’s not so much a question of “if,” but rather a question of “how much” and “when.” The American church is unfortunately very polarized when it comes to the issue. In the United States, Democratic and liberal-leaning Christians tend to more strongly emphasize science and what we can do to create change. Conversely, Republican and conservative-leaning Christians tend to more strongly distrust scientists and seek to keep the sanctity of church values about anything else. However, both sides should be able to find room to agree—climate change is real and it is happen ..read more

Bible Snippets Series Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. I’m still thinking about Romans 8:1-2. In trying to communicate the gospel to non-Christians, sometimes the language of “Jesus is a person and he loves you and wants to have a relationship with you” falls flat. It doesn’t reach people in a way they understand. Another way I’ve imagined explaining this verse is: “there’s no condemnation or need to be shameful when you accept Jesus as r ..read more

Bible Snippets Series I was trying to think of a way to explain Romans 8:1-2 in ways that a very logical-minded non-Christian would understand. The gospel, or message, of Jesus Christ should be good news. If we are to reach others with good news, we can’t inject or explain things in ways that put people on edge, make them defensive, or make them wary. Romans 8:1-2 is supposed to be statement of great news: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death ..read more

Bible Snippets Series Reading through Romans 4 and 5 is all about “faith” versus “works.” I believe this has important ramifications for our mindset as Christians. Do we obey God because we love him? Or, do we love God by obeying him? Does faith come first, or action? The answer to that question is often “both.” Today, the beginning of Chapter 4 points out that: Romans 4:3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” This was before Jesus’ time and in the Old Testament. God sets the precedent for honoring belief before action. Romans 4:9-10 W ..read more

The Trinity remains a mystery. Even to long-time Christians, we don’t always have a good grasp or explanation of the mysterious relationship between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. What are your best metaphors for understanding the Trinity? I’ve heard of the one being: “God is water, water in three forms as ice (solid), water (liquid), gas (vapor).” Or something about “looking out at the ocean, you see the vast body of water, but it is distinct from the atmosphere or clouds that contains the same moisture, which is distinct in our minds as the waves.” Or something like th ..read more

Bible Snippets Series Along the lines of yesterday’s post: I don’t know where in Christian history (or pop culture) we developed such a strong inclination for what “heaven” means. Case in point: baby angels with flutes and horns, floating white clouds, maybe streets paved in gold, lots of Revelation metaphors, a “place in the sky,” or in the case of (mis?)reading John 14:2, lots of big mansions where everyone is one big happy family with God. I feel like our imaginations are already biased when we begin to pick up to read the Bible. It would be interesting to do a thorough study of the Bible ..read more

Bible Snippets Series John 14:1-4 14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.” I spent a while trying to understand this passage. It’s kind of complicated and random of a metaphor, which means it probably hit with its original Greek-understanding audience and ..read more