Word From Below
Jesus Loses his Family for his Father’s House
I have always thought this to be an awkward Gospel story. Mary and Joseph lose their child and don’t realize it for a whole day! My sister has seven kids and forgot one at the mall once. But, Mary and Joseph only have one child—and they lost him? Talk about free-range parenting!
By Ron Ruthruff
Word From Below
The Waiting Rooms of Christmas
Her picture popped up on my computer screen this week after clicking on an email from a friend—a sweet, but seemingly exhausted, 5-year-old Honduran refugee. The email author: a Street Psalms’ friend and InnerCHANGE missionary, Nate Bacon. He had joined up with the caravan of Central American immigrants on their Northward trek to the U.S. When he finally caught up with them in Huixtla, Mexico he did not find a “band of marauding criminals” nor a “threatening throng of terrorists,” but “groups of family members of all ages set on pursuing life.”
By Joel Van Dyke
Word From Below
The Waiting Rooms of Christmas: The Wilderness II
Advent gives us an excuse to consider again the nature of a God who comes to be with and in a people. If the Incarnation is anything, it is the God-in-flesh ONE who turns things upside down and inside out, simultaneously scandalizing and comforting us. This is the God we are waiting for and the God we will welcome—anew.
By Lina Thompson
Word From Below
The Waiting Rooms of Christmas: The Wilderness
A smartly dressed, well-heeled crowd pressed their way through a cold December evening in 1851, seeking to find comfortable seats within the warm confines of New York’s Metropolitan Hall. The hype for this event was incredible. It would become part of an annual phenomenon, featuring big and plenteous voices, gathered to sing out the scriptures, as arranged by George Frideric Handel in his oratorio, “The Messiah.”
By Ojii BaBa Madi
Word From Below
The Waiting Rooms of Christmas: Apocalypse and Holy Defiance
Welcome to the first week of Advent. If you are new to the liturgical calendar, Advent is the four Sundays leading up to Christmas and it marks the beginning of the liturgical year.
By Kris Rocke
Word From Below
The Word in the Temple
We’ve had a week to digest the Nativity Feast. The magic of Christmas finds its way into even the most…
By Kris Rocke
Word From Below
The Word Revealed
Joy is the purest form of gratitude, and gratitude is the most genuine gift we can give to God….
By Kris Rocke
Word From Below
The Word at Home
We began this year’s Advent series by exploring The Waiting Rooms of Christmas. We waited in the Apocalypse and peace…
By Kris Rocke
Word From Below
The Way of the Cross?
“Build that wall! Build that wall” “Go back to where you came from.” “Pack your bags! Pack your bags!” On…
By Lina Thompson
Word From Below
Stone by Stone
This week’s text is difficult. It is the reminder that peacemaking is not for the faint of heart. The text…
By Kris Rocke
Word From Below
Children of the Resurrection
The Gospel not only empowers us to see, but to see from a particular vantage point-through the unconstrained eyes of…
By Joel Van Dyke
Word From Below
Zacchaeus: A Wee Little Man Was He (Not)
This week’s Gospel text is a narrative some people grew up singing in Sunday School: “Zacchaeus was a wee, little…
By Joel Van Dyke
Word From Below
Superhero Spandex
Superhero movies are all the rage recently. I’m sure there are a variety of reasons why…such as an affinity for…
By Justin Mootz
Word From Below
Faith from Below
This is a familiar parable Jesus uses to teach us about the nature of prayer. The widow shows us what…
By Lina Thompson
Word From Below
Becoming Human
This week’s text is a difficult one. The disciples want Jesus to increase their faith, which is the very thing…
By Kris Rocke
Word From Below
Not Even Abraham
This week’s text is the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man lives a life of plenty,…
By Kris Rocke
Word From Below
The Gospel Hustle
In my neighborhood, this would be called a hustle. I see it every day. This parable sounds like a contemporary…
By Lina Thompson
Word From Below
The Math of Mercy
Fifteen years ago this Sunday (9/11) something awful happened, and I do mean aw-full. Most of us were filled with…
By Kris Rocke
Word From Below
Invitation of Love
Throughout the course of life we often engage Scripture through the lens of present circumstance. In my case, the engagement…
By Joel Van Dyke
Word From Below
The Mystery of Mercy
We can manage moral purity from the “other side” of the road, but mercy “comes near” and gets involved in the mess of life.
By Kris Rocke
Word From Below
Family Matters
In this week’s text Jesus turns toward Jerusalem where he will confront the brutal reality of sin head on. On…
By Kris Rocke
Word From Below
Seized By Fear
The man in the tombs we see in this passage is tormented by demons that will not go away. They…
By Lina Thompson
Word From Below
A Gospel Turning
The Gospel is alive and well, but there is an exodus from the Church in North America. My hunch is…
By Kris Rocke
Word From Below
Clash of Crowds
A collision at the city gate!! A crowd of death is leaving the city while a crowd of life is…
By Joel Van Dyke
Word From Below
The Marvel of Saving Faith
There are only two places where the Bible tells us that Jesus is amazed. In our lectionary text this week,…
By Joel Van Dyke
Word From Below
Love in Motion
This week we celebrate the Trinity. Cynthia Bourgeault describes the Trinity as “love in motion.” Love in motion is the…
By Kris Rocke
Word From Below
Pentecost Unity
This week we celebrate Pentecost, which some call the birthday of the church. The Spirit is “poured out” on all…
By Kris Rocke
Word From Below
Unity Without Enemies?
My favorite scientific experiment is the one conducted by Mark Twain. He placed a cat and a dog in a…
By Kris Rocke
Word From Below
Do you want to get well?
As we approach the sixth Sunday of Easter, we are continually being challenged to see life by the light of…
By Joel Van Dyke
Word From Below
Seeing the New Jerusalem
The poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson, said, “That only which we have within, can we see without.” If we see hope,…
By Kris Rocke
Word From Below
Dis-appointment?
Have you recently been disappointed by someone, or have you been the source of their disappointment? In a week’s time,…
By Ken Sikes
Word From Below
What It Means to be Eastered
“Let him easter in us, be a dayspring to the dimness of us.” These are the words that English Jesuit…
By Joel Van Dyke
Word From Below
Resurrection Sunday
Christ is risen! This week we have tried to recover some of the shock of Holy Week and the truly…
By Kris Rocke
Word From Below
Holy Saturday
Today the world falls silent. The psalmist says there is no speech and there are no words. And yet in…
By Kris Rocke
Word From Below
Good Friday
In the Beginning, on the sixth day, on the very first Friday, God created humanity and called us “very good.”…
By Kris Rocke
Word From Below
Maundy Thursday
The result of these next four days ultimately becomes the hope of the world. But today, just today, I want…
By Kris Rocke
Word From Below
The Gift of Shattered Expectations
Laying down cloaks was an act of homage for royalty. By riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey,…
By Lina Thompson
Word From Below
Inventing Scapegoats
We are approaching the Fifth Sunday of Lent. Things are heating up. This week Mary anoints Jesus with costly perfume….
By Kris Rocke
Word From Below
Scandalously Wasteful: The Prodigal Dad
We continue our trek this Lenten season toward the Cross and our journey this week takes us into a very…
By Joel Van Dyke
Word From Below
Towers and Trees
“God hates me!” wailed Reba. Her outburst was a result of losing her husband of 40 years. Just days before…
By Ken Sikes
Word From Below
A “Hens and Chicks” Spirituality
Jerusalem was in trouble, and she didn’t even know it. Jesus’ prophetic words here in chapter 13 are dripping with…
By Lina Thompson
Word From Below
Symbolic Universe
Friend and mentor, Dave Hillis, president of Leadership Foundations, tells the story from his days as a camp counselor when…
By Kris Rocke
Word From Below
Who is this?
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being…. -Hebrews 1:3 When my daughter…
By Joel Van Dyke
Word From Below
The Mystery of Incarnation
Last week we heard Jesus’ first sermon. This week’s lectionary text keeps us in the same passage, but it focuses…
By Kris Rocke
Word From Below
Anointed for What?
Last week we witnessed Jesus’ first miracle (water becomes wine). It ends well. This week we hear Jesus’ first sermon….
By Kris Rocke
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