Imagine dividing a tire into three pizza slice segments. That is one way to think of our spiritual vitality – a tire divided into the three segments of KNOWING, BEING, and DOING.  If one of them gets a little flatter than the others the tire jolts and bumps down the

[This is adapted from part of a sermon I preached a while back, but I think it bears repeating.] I can only assume that there are people sitting here today who don’t believe any of this, about the Great Epic – beginning, middle or end – or people who are

Singing in the dark has been a central and distinctive habit of the Christian life from the beginning.  People of other faith traditions sing for sure, but Christians have the habit of singing loud and long and joyfully, triumphantly no matter the circumstances.  We sing our songs all the more

“Love” is used in so many ways by so many different people it would seem like it can mean almost anything. If it can mean almost anything depending on who is using it and how they are using it, then does it really mean anything? Is such an important word

What is it to you? This is a question that Jesus asked one of his disciples and it is one of the most important questions, I believe, for all of Jesus’ disciples. Jesus had been challenging Peter to follow him (Jesus) out of love for him (Jesus). Jesus also made

Twelfth century monk, Bernard of Clairvaux developed a helpful model for expressing how Christians (can) mature in their faith – the four degrees of love. Loving yourself for your own sake (Selfish Love) Loving God for your own sake (Dependence Love) Loving God for God’s sake (Intimacy Love) Loving Yourself

Christians are people whose ultimate ambition is to embody the life and teachings of Jesus – a high aspiration for sure. The loftiness of this goal means that the Christian life, in this life anyway, will never be about arriving, but about journey and progress. Sometimes along this journey we

Although Chutzpah is a Yiddish word – not one of the Biblical languages: Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic – it is an important word for understanding the Biblical concept of faith. Chutzpah is a word that means audacity, gall, nerve, fierce determination, refusing to quit or let go even when you

I remember a friend of mine who I think a lot of, telling me out of the blue, “Nathan, I don’t know that I feel comfortable calling myself a Christian anymore.” All of a sudden, I was really listening. He went on to say: You know, the word Christian, it

[This is the second part of a three part series on God’s Forgiveness. Part one is “Did God Forgive People Before Jesus?” and part three is “Jesus’ Death and God’s Forgiveness.”] Does God need blood to forgive people? Of course not! Do you need something to die or bleed for