If you are curious about what our broader denomination is up to, or want to understand more about how our connection works, let me know! I love talking about this stuff. Just email me: ben@lumc.net.

The Great Commission isn't just a command to follow, it is a responsibility we have been given that we must take seriously.

I hope we never shy away from speaking our own belief publicly: that we are a church who openly and proud celebrates the Queer community, their leadership, their voice, their presence. And that we can live into a courage that extends radical hospitality to our neighbors.

The combination of urgency, tenacity, and creativity led to a miracle. The shared effort of friends unleashed the power of Jesus not only to forgive sin, but also to heal wounds. Imagine what our shared efforts as a church could lead to!

It says in scripture that God tested the Isrealites, but I don't think the test was only in the experience of eating just enough manna and quail or following specific instructions. I think God's test for the Isrealites was for them to live as if they believed God was with them, was watching over them, and that, even in the hardest times of their wilderness wandering, they were not alone.

What does your name mean to you?

I hope that the name or title or designation you have feels right. And I hope it is something that allows you room to fully live into who you are--who God made you to be and who God is calling you to become.

And if you don't feel like you are fully living into it yet, take heart--maybe you are like Peter and just need some time to grow.

What if that is our tendency: to go through life walking right alongside Jesus but not recognizing him being among us day after day. Maybe Jesus meets us through the eyes of someone in need, or in the face of someone who has been estranged from us or needs our forgiveness. God forbid, what if Jesus meets us in people whom we plain just don't like?

What leaps of faith have you taken in life? Have there been any that you avoided in order to play it safe? Sometimes the most miraculous things God has in store for us are the ones that require a little bit of faith and courage to take that leap--whether it is in our personal lives or the life of our church!

A cocoon or chrysalis is pretty similar to Mary's womb and Jesus' tomb. Because both places were vessels for the holy, and were places of preparation for a great miracle to happen. Some of the most important expressions of divinity in scripture happened in hidden ways, or from darkness--and yet we frequently paint darkness with a negative brush!

I want to invite you to honor the struggle in our shared faith story by not skipping the days where we tell the less pleasant part of our story this week. Join us on Maundy Thursday where we will come together over a meal to reflect on the love Jesus showed during the last supper he had with his friends. And then join us on Good Friday, ironically named, to behold again the story of Christ's passion as it is told in the gospel of John.

Please join me in prayer this week for those who are terrorized, traumatized, and victimized by gun violence in our country.

I wonder how stuck we are in what we believe is possible? In our own lives, in our neighborhoods, in our communities, in our country? These days, we seem to be stuck in a whole lot of things: rage, apathy, addictions, fear, violence. All of those things feel impossible to change.

We have a tendency as humans to box one another into what we can expect of them. The Pharisees put their willful ignorance of Jesus' power on full display, and the disciples limited the blind man's experience of life down to whether or not he or his parents sinned.

I think it is really healthy to take stock of who we are and ask why. Friends, for those of you who profess it--why are you a Christian?

It can be very easy to associate shame with temptation. When we are "tempted" we can come to believe that we are somehow weak, and then feel shame as we believe a false narrative that we tell ourselves about who we are.

But the fact of the matter is this: everyone gets tempted.

The transfiguration happened in the middle of a journey--all of us are on a journey too. Let's not let fear cause us to halt our forward progress.

It's easy to dismiss the weird stuff in Leviticus about shellfish and fabrics, but Leviticus also can very directly offer guidance on how we can be good neighbors to one another. And that makes a lot of it still worth reading.

I think we should be taking more walks in our neighborhood--not only for our mental health, but also for our spiritual awareness to the life God is calling us to live and the work God is calling us to do!

A sacred space doesn't need to be fancy, but it does need to be intentional. What is yours?

Sometimes we need to be the recipient of kindness, and sometimes we need to be the one sharing kindness. In either case, our mental and spiritual health benefits from it.