I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how we live day in and day out. Our lifestyles are very busy and very regimented. In fact, it usually takes an illness or a snow day (not happening) to throw us off our routines. We are all creatures of habit and we certainly need predictable patterns to govern the orbit of our existence. There is a certain safety and comfort in the routine. In fact, it wouldn’t be a very healthy way of living if every day was a massive shake-up filled with unexpected chaos.

God is the One who created the patterns and rhythms of nature—seven days, 24 hours, four seasons. These patterns provide the contours for our living. They are predictable in their coming and going yet we do not know what will happen within the context of each day, week, and season.

Likewise, God is faithful in the rhythm of our living. Every day, week, and season, God is active and alive....

“Prince of Peace” is the title we best know and remember about Jesus at Christmastime. Yet peace is a word that suffers from much misuse. We tend to use peace in mushy, meaningless ways. For example, while we may pray for peace in the war-torn areas of our world or cities, we don’t exactly envision peace in such a way that would require us to make a commitment toward justice and equality in our daily lives. Instead, we tame and domesticate peace into something small and safe, as in, “All I want is a little peace and quiet!” Or, “Can’t you just leave me in peace?”

Yet the peace of God is neither mushy nor meaningless. God’s peace is a word of power and transformation. The Bible invites us to explore all the dimensions of God’s peace—its shape, its flavor, and its ability to change our lives in radical ways.

Consider Jesus’ radical statement: “Do you think that...

For most people in American society today, the Christmas season begins the day after Halloween. I started hearing nonstop Christmas music on the radio the first week of November. But when I was a kid we never saw a Christmas decoration until after Thanksgiving. Now, professional marketers drive the great machinery of Christmas. Christmas is all about shopping, going to holiday parties, being with family, shopping some more, eating large meals, watching football games, getting in some deer hunting, school vacation, opening presents, returning presents, and doing more shopping at those after-Christmas sales. This time of year you’re as likely to be greeted with “Happy Holidays” as “Merry Christmas.”

Our modern celebration of Christmas does have a time for giving—and of course receiving. It is a time for reliving the magical story of flying reindeer and jolly old St. Nick, and...

I closed last Sunday morning's sermon with the words of a prayer of humility and faith from Thomas Merton. It may be the most powerful prayer, other than the Lord's Prayer, that I have found. I return to these words often and share them now with you.   

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to know you does in fact please you. And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road; Even though, I may know nothing about it. Therefore, I will trust you always.

Though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death; I will not fear, for you are with me. And you will never leave me to face my perils alone. AMEN.  

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This Sunday we will begin a seven week journey at FBC in spiritual formation. DEEP FAITH is a curriculum that I have spent many hours writing and developing over the past six months. I am excited that we are finally ready to begin this journey. Seven days for seven weeks is the goal for us as individuals and as a community to deepen our relationship with God. It is an opportunity to experience lasting transformation. I am convinced that for so many of us in the church, and outside the church, there is a gnawing sense that there's got to be more to life than what we are experiencing from day to day. It all begins by honestly evaluating our desires. Do you really desire to know God in a deeper way and experience life as God intends?

In our weekly worship, small groups, and daily personal devotions we will seek to create a space where God's Spirit can work within us. I hope and pray that our...

It was Sunday night when we realized one of our cats was missing. For over two years the daily routine has been: pets outside during the day and inside the house at night. We have two cats and a dog—all female—which seems to provide some balance to our three boy universe, ying to our yang. (However, with son number one now in college the dog has defaulted to me.) My younger two sons each have a cat. The cats, and the boys, have a nightly drill. After showers and teeth-brushing is done, just before prayers, the cats assume their nightly position—Sox on Cole’s bed and Sophie on Noah’s bed. But Sunday night Sophie was nowhere to be found. This was the first full night in over two years that the cat had not come inside for the night. Noah, who is ten, was not happy about not having his sleeping buddy. We assured him the cat would show up. Next day, nothing. On Tuesday, I made some “cat missing” fliers and we put in them all over the neighborhood. Tuesday night came. Still nothing. I called Animal Control. Nothing....

Here’s another indicator that America’s congregations are shrinking and people are thinking less about faith. In a report, “American Religion: Contemporary Trends,” author Mark Chaves concludes that over the last generation religious belief in America has experienced a “softening” in which far more people are willing to say they don’t belong to any religious tradition than in the past. Using data from over the past forty years, as many as 20 percent of all Americans say they don’t belong to any religious group compared to just 3 percent in the 1950s. Yet 92 percent claim a belief in God, but don’t identify with religion as a part of their identity. Researcher Bradley Wright says, “Forty or 50 years ago, it was almost a form of deviance not to be religious.”Chavis says these trends developed slowly and he doesn’t think they can be reversed by amped up evangelism or other efforts. The study also reported that older people are more likely to be religious than the young. No surprise there. Immigrants also tend to be active religious believers.

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What do you pray for when a hurricane is approaching? For more on that question, we turn to George Stephanopoulos and the Reverend Pat Robertson.

Responding to a question on May 1, 2005 from ABC host George Stephanopoulos about why a God "so involved in our daily life” would allow a tsunami to kill hundreds of thousands of people, Rev. Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition of America, replied: "I don't think He reverses the laws of nature. The reason for that tsunami was the shifting of tectonic plates in the Indian Ocean. I don't think he changes the magma in volcanoes and I don't think he changes the wind currents to bring about hurricanes. So, I don't attribute that to God, or his lack, or otherwise…" Good point.

Earlier, according to The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA) on June 10, 1998, Rev. Robertson had claimed that his prayers to God helped steer Hurricane...

My sermon last Sunday was about the Canaanite woman Jesus encountered in the Gentile territory of Tyre and Sidon. In that encounter, Jesus blasted down a number of walls—culture, religion, and gender to name a few. I also mentioned an obscure story found in the Old Testament Book of Judges 11-12. It’s a sad and strange tale about a Gileadite warrior named Jephthah who would also later serve as a judge over Israel for six years. After Jephthah achieved victory over the Ammonites and sacrificed his daughter (which is another crazy story), the neighboring Ephraimites cross the Jordan River heading into Gileadite territory. A battle ensues in which the Gileadites defeat the Ephraimites. As the Ephramites are retreating they must pass through the fords of the Jordan held by the Gileadites.

So, whenever a fugitive of Ephraim comes requesting safe passage, the Gilaedites ask, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If the fugitive says “no” they said to him, “Then say the word shibboleth” which is a Hebrew word meaning both “ear of corn” and “river.”

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