Our earliest memories may include beautiful things we’ve seen: sunsets, beach scenes, mountains. Others of our earliest memories are lik...

The problem of suffering Suffering as a challenge to faith has been around as long as human beings. But it’s still immediate. We wrestl...

In times of crisis, our normal ways of doing things do NOT apply! We find that nothing is the way it used to be. The entire fabric of o...

We feel distant from God, even abandoned. Jesus has something to tell us about staying connected with God. If you love me, keep my comma...

Today we’re going to talk about the specifics of that SECOND resurrection – the resurrection of the disciples. Of course, we’ll talk abo...

Scholars Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan say that “Without Easter, we wouldn’t know about Jesus. If his story had ended with his cr...

“Extra! Extra! Read all about it!” That used to be the cry of city newspaper hawkers when a “Special Edition” was printed with breaking...

We like to be in control. Of ourselves – of situations. We like to know that we are calling the shots, making the decisions, and determi...

This psalm, as comfortable as we are with it, and as wonderful as it sounds – is difficult to buy into in our present reality. In a Coron...

The Theodicy Problem How can God be just when there is so much evil in the world? Why do good people suffer while those who oppress them ...

“Oh, God! two-word prayer… Aunt Margaret’s sons/diagnosis/death of loved one…we cry out! Prayer can be a challenge for many of us. We str...

Psalm 51 Walter Brueggemann has observed that the psalms move a worshipper from a point where life is stable and faith is taken for gran...

Just around the Riverbend Everything can be new. The past is important, of course. The past tells us how God has been at work in our stor...

Happy Valentine’s weekend. For some of us, this is a weekend to be endured, gotten through, toughed out. If Romantic Love isn’t a big par...

Something odd happened in November of 1805 on what is now the Oregon Coast. Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery reached the Pacifi...

The world is a very complicated place. Sometimes we come here on Sunday morning, longing for someone to tell us that everything will be a...

A trip to Israel-Palestine is a remarkable experience. Even with a commercial tour, the place itself would affect you. There are echoes, ...

Driving around Oak Park, River Forest and Forest Grove allows you to see quite an array of lights and holiday decorations. Santas, reinde...

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, George Frederic Handel joined forces with Charles Jennens a devout Anglican, known for frequen...

Only a Baby Came Setting. In times of peril, it is not easy to have a sense of hope for the future. The present takes all of our attentio...