FaithIsland

The church isn't perfect - but it was given a gift from God to share with the world. I can't eliminate the pain and fears from your life - but I can promise you that you don't have to through them alone. When you confess your sins - when you lay your burdens before the cross - the stories are always difficult - and some people will never understand - but don't worry about them - some will - and th...

Forgiveness is the justice of God. A society that has forgotten how to forgive can never be truly just. Because the best that justice can do is set the stage for forgiveness. Justice can’t make things right. Even forgiveness can’t make things right on its own – but forgiveness begins the process of reconciliation which leads to healing. It is not simple and it isn’t quick - but it all starts with...

God made a promise to you at your baptism - a covenant so holy He will never break it. He promised to be your God - to love you and forgive you and care for you - to make sure when you finally make it home there is a place with your name on the door and the lights on. Your life will not be perfect - you will experience trauma and heartache, pain and sickness, lostness and fear. Weaving its way in...

If we reread the parable again - we realize the lawyer had no problem with Jesus saying, " love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength " - he passed right over that because he thought he had that one covered. He wanted clarification on the " love your neighbor ." What Jesus pointed out was - you love God by loving one another - even those, perhaps especially those, who aren...

Let me give you a verse - if you remember only one thing from today - this is it: Romans 12: 8, “As far as it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Did you hear that: “As far as it is possible” - because sometimes it’s not - “as far as it depends on you” - you are not responsible for the other person - “live at peace with everyone.” And this is because you have be...

St. Peter quoted Proverbs 26:11, but he added, “ a pig returns to the mud after a bath .” I am amazed how well Bible writers know me. I finally throw up all the bad stuff I gorged on - and like a dog return to it. God finally gets me cleaned up and I jump back in the mud. Jesus sets me free - and I run back into the cell and lock the door. The world loves “me-based solutions to all our me-based pr...

What Jesus offered Legion - what He offers us - is more than healing. He offers forgiveness. C.S. Lewis differentiated between the two in his classic, The Problem of Pain , “We have a strange illusion that mere time cancels sin. I have heard others, and I have heard myself, recounting cruelties...committed in boyhood as if they were no concern of the present. But mere time does nothing either to t...

The mystery of Holy Trinity Sunday is this simple: God created you as a unique an unreproducible miracle. Jesus paid for all the junk and mistakes in your life. The Holy Spirit is with you e You can tell Jesus He is full of demons. You can build all sorts of barriers between you and Him. You can listen to the demon on your shoulder. You can do whatever you want. It doesn't change the truth that Go...

Everytime someone tells me only pastors can preach - I point to this verse. It may be my job to deliver a sermon on Sunday - but you, whether you are male or female, young or old - have a calling to preach. You don't have to be long-winded like me - you just have to tell people what God has done and is doing in your life. And you don't need to go into great detail - sometimes it's as simple as, "I...

People who through the gift of faith believe the resurrection happened, live in a world where death and satan and evil no longer have any power over them. It doesn't mean death isn't scary. It doesn't mean they don't work to avoid it. But ultimately when death comes - the believer looks it straight in the eye and says, "do your worst - you can't win" because even if you steal my last breath - one...

The difference between a myth and the truth is not if you believe it or not. It's whether it really is true. You cannot change truth just by believing or not believing. This is why we live by faith. As much as I would love to live in complete certainty - knowing everything without doubt or fear - it is impossible. My brain will not allow me to completely trust God. It works to sabotage me over and...

As we look around, we see signs of a world so deeply loved by God that even as it spirals into nothingness He refuses to give up. And the only thing God said that was worth saving from this world and this universe was you. There will be a new heaven and new earth - and you will get to see it take place. And because I know God - I know you are going to love it - because what you were really searchi...

We cannot avoid pain or suffering or uncomfortable moments or the judgment of the world. When we run away from God - we get further and further away from His voice - the voice that speaks Truth. And I know we are often afraid of the truth - and yet there is a truth we need to hear. I know we don't like being told we're sinners or that we shouldn't have said that or done that - but that is not the...

Revelation was written for a very specific purpose - and it wasn't to create anxiety, fear or doubt in the minds of God's people. People are always saying they want to study Revelation because it's filled with 7 headed beasts, angels fighting demons, dragons and other science fiction worthy scenes. But all of that is just creamer in the coffee, icing on the cake, the pickle on the Chick-Fil-A sand...

The church is not a group of people who all believe the exact same things. That is the goal - but it ain't going to happen until we get to heaven. The church is a group of people caught up in a story that has Jesus at the center. We are drawn into that story and the life of Jesus as the Holy Spirit works in our heart, mind and soul to deepen our relationship with God and one another to the point w...

Easter is the epitome of the Christian identity. We are people who every single day stand completely exposed to death and pain and all the rest of the world's evil deeds. Faith allows us to declare they cannot hurt us. When someone asks how we could say that - it would never be enough for us to give the reason for our faith as - an empty tomb. They would just stare at us and think we were crazy. B...

Jesus’ resurrection makes redemption possible. The Holy Spirit is breathed on us by the risen Christ in ways we cannot describe - but we can experience. What Easter says in the boldest possible statement - God’s pursuit of you is relentless. His scars tell His story of a cross, a grave, an empty tomb and offer endless possibilities.

The last words - and a walk through the darkness to the Light

Sampling the Seder - a walk through the Passover Meal

If you knew Someone would save you when you died - would you be afraid of dying? In a preview of that grace-filled and merciful unbinding that will take place on Easter Sunday - Jesus throws a parade today. It's a simple thing to show people what the world sees as an end is really just the beginning. If, by God's gift of faith, you believe the cross is more than a fairytale - there is a happily ev...

When People Knock our Rocks Down. My life, like yours, is what it is today because of what we believe. Like St. Paul, I don't know everything - and still have some "aha" moments. Theology and doctrine are not moving targets - but our life and this world is always moving - which is why when people knock the stacked rocks down - and we find ourselves a little lost - we need to make sure we know who...

Is this a parable - or is it the real-life story of God and prodigal children? And if we're talking about the word prodigal (spending resources freely and recklessly; being wastefully extravagant) - is it the son or the Father who is more extravagant? One thing is certain from the text - whether we are the prodigal or the older, self-righteous, brother - God doesn't give up on us.

Justice and Mercy are not opposites. They are both necessary parts of our earthly life. Henri Nouwen wrote, “We tend to be compassionate to the extent that we have suffered the Passion in our own lives.” If we view life through the cross of Jesus, our own pain and suffering and failures and losses - the manure of our life - tend to make us more understanding of others - and the "grammar of justice...

When the pastor speaks - who do you hear? What rules are there for pastors when they say things like, "thus saith the Lord?" And so - part of what is supposed to happen when we come to church is our hearts and minds and souls are to be continually baptized - not with water - but with grace and mercy and peace so we are able to take all that we are - and all that the world is made of and use it for...

We live in the wilderness - and as long as we are on this earth the wilderness will be where we lay our head, scratch out a living and try to make sense of this life. satan and sin will always be here. There is a reason Jesus went into the wilderness immediately after His baptism - He was reminding us of what we have through that simple water and few words. At baptisms, the pastor asks everyone pr...