Glory fot the Valley

a lot of people sitting in pews on Sunday morning are carrying doubt they've never said out loud, because they're not sure the church can handle it.

We have spent a long time domesticating the Holy Spirit reducing it to a warm feeling. But the Spirit in John 20 is something else, something that doesn'twait.

They were still looking up. We are living in the between — after the Ascension, before Pentecost. Come back to the room. The Spirit is on the way.

Read the second chapter of Acts carefully and you will notice something the Sunday school version tends to smooth over: the disciples were not ready.

Jesus says he won't leave us orphaned. But some weeks, that promise is held by faith alone. A reflection for the Sixth Sunday of Easter.

The building faces the street for a reason. A church that exists only for the people inside it has forgotten what it is for.

Stephen is about to die. He knows it. The stones are already in people's hands. And he looks up, and someone is standing. That is a claim about the nature of God

When we gather around the Eucharist table every Sunday, we are continuing a practice that was, from its very beginning, a political act.

Jesus the gentle shepherd, leading his flock. It's Good Shepherd Sunday, and we know exactly what to expect. Except this year I kept reading.