I dont think Joy is a feeling. I don’t think it is necessarily a verb either. The best way I can describe joy is connection.

Pax Romana, and I would argue the “peace” we enjoy as Americans are not terribly dissimilar. They both need violence to be sustained.

Let’s choose hope instead of apathy, because only hope can truly save us.

Whichever King is at large, we know as Christian that any true king we might revere must also have the title of “Prince of Peace,” “Messiah,“ and “Emmanuel.”

How can we live “responsibly” today?

Celebrity worship is easy because it demands very little of us while offering us nothing in return. Worshiping God is challenging while offering us a full life of purpose and connecting to the divine presence of the one who loves us and is love.

When we honor the saints, we must also take up their work in building God’s kin-dom and continue it. We inherit the riches AND responsibilities of the saints who have gone before us.

How can I even begin to organize my thoughts about what to hope for? It’s all too overwhelming.

One thing is for sure—things don’t get better by themselves.

When you find yourself in a place outside of your comfort zone, or a new place you have never lived before, or if you find that your neighborhood is changing faster than you were ready for, remember that we are all a people who are capable of blooming where we have been planted.

I think a true life of faith that is modeled after the life and teachings of Jesus is one that seeks something more than just recognition. A true life of faith is filled with actions that might never be posted about on social media, but still adds incredible value and goodness to the world.

Wealth is a lot like anesthesia, it numbs us from the pain we are witnessing our neighbors experiencing. And over time that numbness leads us to unfair judgment and even dehumanizing people whom we don’t understand.

We are ALL a work in progress. All of us are clay in the potter’s hand!

Let’s be Christians who are humble enough to acknowledge that we aren’t bringing God with us wherever we go. Instead, let’s embrace the truth that what we are carrying with us is good news that God is already here, already Loving us, and already at work in the world.

Fear and guilt are very tangible emotions for us. They are less complicated than love. They make more sense to us than the faith that claims a hope in the impossible.

I think we have a big cultural (and moral) problem when it comes to how we understand the value of life.

However you pray, dont shy away from it. You might find an experience of God’s love waiting for you there.

I think we need to figure out our relationship with freedom. Because we can take the version of freedom that just means “I can have it my way” to a point where, if all of us claw for it, we destroy ourselves.

Can we get past our litmus tests and curated social media feeds to see one another as fellow beloved Children of God? Because today, that just might be one of the most radical things we could ever do as people of faith in this fractured world where we live.

We are always a work in progress, and that work won’t be completed without God’s grace.