337 kilometers. That’s how far of drive it is from the town of El Calafate in Argentina’s Santa Cruz Province to the southern entrance of Torres del Paine, a stunning national park on the Chilean side of Patagonia. This past January, my brother Mark, our buddy Andrew, and I made that cross-country road trip in our battle-tested rental vehicle, a black Chevy Cruz with a cracked windshield and well-worn tires that seemed to be driving on borrowed time, just one ill-placed jagged rock away from a catastrophic puncture. As we prepared to leave the town in our rearview and navigate the vast Patago ..read more

With the cyclical nature of the church’s liturgical year, we come around to the same stories of our faith over and over again. There’s something beautiful about the stories of our faith being so constant—so reliable. The hymnist Katherine Hankey certainly thought so when she wrote:   “I love to tell the story ‘twill be my theme in glory To tell the old, old story Of Jesus and his love” — I Love to Tell the Story (Katherine Hankey)   However, I sometimes wonder if the going-around-in-circles disenchants us from just how powerful and incredible this Story really is. Does the spinning ..read more

“All rise!” Through the ministry of Jesus and his disciples, the Kingdom of God was on the rise in and around the region of Galilee: those who were blind regained their sight, those who were cast out found acceptance, those who had sinned received forgiveness, those who had lost hope discovered a new way forward, and even those who had died (Jairus’ daughter and Lazarus) were raised. Word spread of Jesus’ power to teach and to heal. But even as the Kingdom of God was on the rise, there was another power at work in the region. Rome was also on the rise. Two powers… Both claiming authority. Bot ..read more

One early fall morning, Gerald and Henry met on out on the dock of Lake Sundown for a pre-dawn fishing excursion.  The two friends loaded all their fishing gear into Henry’s boat and set off across the lake to their secret spot—the cove where they were sure all the fish slept for the night and woke up hungry.  They baited their hooks, cast their lines over the edge of the boat, and then waited… And waited… And waited… Breaking the silence, Henry asked, “What’s your wildest catch, Gerald.”  Grateful for the opportunity to tell the story, Gerald started in with excitement: “One t ..read more

Each year in the Northern Hemisphere, as the days get shorter and the nights get longer and colder, the season of Advent arrives. In the four weeks leading up to Christmas, we pray and light candles and tell the truth about a world full of shadows. We come face-to-face with the reality that our lives are shrouded in darkness: injustice, armed conflict, health scares, broken hearts, dashed hopes, strained relationships. And then we raise up our voices and sing straight into those shadows, calling on Jesus to come again with light and peace and “healing in his wings.” Even if only for a season ..read more

Each year during the Passover seder, our Jewish sisters and brothers retell the story of the Exodus from Egypt, acknowledging God’s kindness and faithfulness to the Jewish people throughout history.  Traditionally, part of their remembrance includes singing a song in Hebrew titled Dayenu (Hebrew: דַּיֵּנוּ), translated as ”it would have been enough.” Here is an excerpt from the liturgy: If He had split the Sea for us and had not taken us through it on dry land, it would have been enough for us. If He had taken us through it on dry land and had not supplied our needs in the wilderness ..read more

A lamentable truth about Christmas and Easter is we’re pretty good at anticipating these holy days and celebrating them when they come, but the day after Christmas and the day after Easter, the celebration falls off a cliff.  This Easter was so beautiful!  The sanctuary was full of flowers and of hundreds of people dressed in their Easter best, singing and dancing their praises with a little more conviction than usual.  So much life.  So much joy.  The celebration of Easter is a marathon, not a sprint… Easter is really just the beginning. There’s a non-profit organiza ..read more

Grim. Cold. Haunting. Dark. Eerie. Ominous. On the surface, there’s something unsettling about graveyards, especially at night time. Stone markers memorialize the names of those once living while the soil beneath cradles the bodies of the dead. Like a funeral procession of cars passing through busy streets, graves command the attention of passersby—reminders of lives lost and the inevitability of death. Yes, ON THE SURFACE, graves are somber sites… spaces where the living go to remember and mourn. But BENEATH THE SURFACE, there is deeper Mystery and Meaning at work. After Jesus’ death on the c ..read more

God is endlessly creative, and in creative love, God designed the world. As part of that design, God brought together the gifts of creativity, joy, and imagination into a special means of worship: ART. Long after the dawn of creation, God is still creating the world, touching up places here and there, making the world more vivid with every brushstroke, and inviting you to participate in the artistry of it all. For centuries, the global Church has engaged art in all forms as a means of storytelling, biblical interpretation, and even praise. Sacred architecture trains our eyes upward; sacred son ..read more

When was the last time something thrilled you? A thrill is a sudden feeling of excitement and pleasure. It’s that exhilarating feeling when joy catches you by surprise, sets your heart to awe, and offers you a jolt of elation and contentment deeper than you were ready for—deeper than you knew possible. Sometimes people chase after cheap thrills by doing things that get the adrenaline pumping and make them feel alive… things like skydiving or riding roller coasters or speeding or engaging in more destructive behaviors. But if it’s a longer lasting, more deeply seated thrill you’re after, few t ..read more