As we journey this week to the cross and beyond with Jesus, I invite us to meditate on two of the songs we sing. What do these words teach us about Jesus? What do they teach us about ourselves? What do we learn from them about living lives of faithful discipleship? Ah, Holy Jesus – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLQ5X9F7d2A Words can be found: https://hymnary.org/hymn/UMH/289 1. Ah, holy Jesus, how hast thou offended, that we to judge thee have in hate pretended? By foes derided, by thine own rejected, O most afflicted! 2. Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon thee? Alas, my treason, Jesu ..read more

I enjoy reading the news, and one trend I have noticed is that at the start of a new year, there is a plethora of articles on how to develop healthy habits. They all seemed geared toward helping us keep our new year’s resolutions. Well, this blog post is going to be similar I do think the new year is a good time to try to re-engage our spiritual practices. There are other natural points like this throughout the year, too, such as Lent. But the new year does tend to prompt us to self-examination. I came across this article from the United Methodist Church, and I thought it had some good ideas ..read more

This Advent, I have been a part of the Upper Room’s Advent Devotion Course called “Light From Afar.” It is based on a book by the same name. I highly recommend the book! Each week, we are studying the Scriptures from the perspective of Christians from different countries – Brazil, Philippines, Ukraine, and South Africa. My soul has been enriched through the words of the authors and the insights I’ve gained into how they celebrate Christmas in their cultures. With each day’s reading, the authors also selected music to accompany it. So, I wanted to share some of those musical pieces with you. My ..read more

Last week in my sermon I mentioned a great resource for study and devotion. I was talking about the weekly video devotions that New Testament scholar, N.T. Wright, produces. I have been watching these devotions for several months, and I would encourage you to join me. There is a great “library” of previous devotions, and a few weeks ago, he started a new series on salvation and what salvation means for us as Christians and for the world. It is a thought-provoking and interesting study. As always, I am here for you to discuss with you any questions that may arise! Here is the link to the first ..read more

To celebrate the first year of the James Webb Space Telescope, NASA released an image of a small star-forming region in the Rho Ophiuchi. This is a gorgeous image, and you can take a video tour of it here – https://webb.nasa.gov/ – as well as check out its other images. I love images like this, because it reminds us of the incredible beauty in our cosmos. We are reminded that our Creator created more than just the earth. We are reminded that our Lord is the universal Lord. And we are reminded of Psalm 8 (Common English Translation): Lord, our Lord, how majestic     is your ..read more

Have you ever read the newspaper or watched the news and felt overwhelmed by the awfulness of what you learn? I know I do. So, what do we do when that happens? How do we respond? A good way we can respond is with prayer. But, sometimes, it is hard to know how to pray in these situations. What words do we say? How can we pray? Of course, we can pray for peace or for God’s kingdom to come or for our leaders to govern with wisdom and mercy. But, sometimes, our words can feel inadequate. This is where the book of Psalms can help. Psalms is the prayer book of the Bible, and a good devotion practice ..read more

Tomorrow is May the 4th – Star Wars Celebration Day! I love the Star Wars franchise, and I recently found a fun podcast that makes some connections between Star Wars and Christianity. You can check it out here: I enjoyed listening to their discussion. They have some interesting and thoughtful insights that deepen the beauty of the Star Wars universe. I particularly liked their take on Luke, and even though they didn’t mention it, I began to see some connections between Luke and Peter. What did you hear? If you are a fan of Star Wars – what other connections do you see? What about in the exten ..read more

As we journey through Holy Week, I wanted to share a webpage from Bible Gateway. I’ve copied some of the visuals to help our understanding of what happens during these final days of Jesus’ life. I pray these visuals enrich our observance. – https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2021/03/passion-week-visualized ..read more

Our new bishop, Bishop Sue (see picture below), began her work at the start of the year. I haven’t had the opportunity to meet her yet, but I am excited for her ministry. Our Virginia Conference has created a couple of videos featuring Bishop Sue so that we can learn more about her. I invite us to watch these videos and to keep her in our prayers. Let’s also keep our former bishop, Bishop Lewis, in our prayers as she is the new bishop in Mississippi. Interview with Bishop Sue – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xCUDWTXKaM Virginia Conference Facebook page – scroll down to find more videos – htt ..read more

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! I pray that as Christmas draws near, we are able to slow down and savor this time of year. I pray we can savor the smells, tastes, sounds, and sights. May we see God in the beautiful details around us. May we know how God’s peace, hope, joy, and love are working in our lives and in the world. We know that there is still a lot of difficulty and darkness, a lot of sorrow and despair in our world. But, we also know and trust that Christ is the light of the world. Christ shines into all of the mess and is not overcome by the darkness. That is such a wonde ..read more