How to Actively Read:

Last week we began exploring the difference between passive reading and active reading, and how this relates to our own particular Bible reading style.

It is natural to sit back and just listen to a sermon, including Scripture being read. But is this active engagement? When I teach college students how to engage with...

What is your Bible reading style? Do you skim through known stories? Focus on the Psalms? Perhaps, you feel most comfortable in the New Testament and avoid Old Testament jargon. Or, maybe the majority of your interactions with Scripture involve listening to sermons. 

It is healthy to examine our habits. Our brains are wired for repetition;...

Tension is an essential part of human life. This is the case whether we appreciate it or try to avoid it at all costs. I recently heard Nick Rea, of Preemptive Love Coalition, illustrate the importance of tension in life using the analogy of instrument strings. Too much tension, and the string breaks. Too little, just a thunk or twang. Just the...

In our own minds is "she" inherently less than "he"?

In many religious traditions, language used to refer to God is exclusively male. God is a he or a him. God is a father. Yet the God of the Bible transcends gender and is also portrayed in feminine language and imagery. Prominent among feminine images and metaphors for God is mother. ...

“Wait. There were female prophets???” Her shock hung in the air, almost palpable. And her exclamation echoed the surprise and measured curiosity of countless students who, upon learning of female prophets in the Bible, aren’t sure whether to be suspicious of what they are reading or resentful that they have never heard of a...

Dear D, 

Last night when I came to your room for bedtime stories, I found you standing tall with your hand on your hip telling Papa that you WERE big enough for the hand-me-down clothes he had recently stowed in your closet. Listening to your conversation, seeing the focus and resolve in your eyes, I found my heart swelling with gratitude...

Stinking Grapes and Unmet Expectations-Part 2

Last week we discussed Isaiah 5 and the Song of the Vineyard. We explored the vintner's response to unmet expectations. The response began with reflection, asking the questions that often accompany unmet expectations. However, a deeper reflection period is skipped over, which is met with unresolved...

Have you wondered what roles women played in the story of the Exodus? Do you enjoy talking about often overlooked characters in famous stories?  Join us March 8, 12:00-1:00 pm Pacific Time for a conversation about the midwives in Exodus. 

Do you know others who might enjoy this kind of conversation space? Invite them to join us...

Habit Formation and Unmet Expectations

There are moments in life when we get a glimpse of how our daily habits reap some benefit. A degree earned, a skill mastered, a mindset broadened. It is the little things we repeat daily that add up to exponential growth in the long-term. These moments don’t occur frequently, but they do offer some...

Sometimes children help us see anew: wonder in the small things, impartial delight in others, or the beautiful audacity to ask for what we need and receive it wholeheartedly.  

Sitting 30,000 feet in the air, with my 10-month old daughter on my lap, I noticed all of these things. But I wasn’t prepared for what else she...

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