Author Archives: reallifepastor

          I want to start today by inviting you to take a minute and think about one thing you believe about God.  Once you’ve decided on it, write it down.  We’ll come back to it in a bit.           The … Continue reading →

The songwriter asks:  “What’s it gonna take to save the day?  What you gonna need to feel ok?  If you close your eyes what would you pray?  What’s it gonna take to save the day?”  What’s it gonna take to … Continue reading →

          Have you ever felt like that?  Have you ever wondered if God—or someone—is really out there, if there are reasons for anything that happens, if God really knows your name?           One of the greatest challenges to believing in … Continue reading →

Do you know who you are?  Do you know who you are to your family?  To yourself?   To your church community?  Do you know who you are to God?  Would you like to? It’s Lent.  Lent sends some people to … Continue reading →

Have you ever had a mountaintop experience?  A time when you suddenly saw things clearly?  A time when you felt God’s presence?  A time when you felt connected to everything? Some of the people who attended the women’s retreat a … Continue reading →

 Valentine’s Day is coming up, which is—pardon my cynicism here– the best opportunity we have to think superficially about love.  Hearts and sweets and atrocious spelling?   Seriously.  What does any of that have to do with love?  What good is … Continue reading →

Last Sunday, in some church somewhere, during Prayer Time, a football fan asked the community to pray for his team, who was playing a playoff game later that afternoon.  It was a BIG game.  If his team won, they’d go … Continue reading →

          What are your gifts?  What are you really good at doing?  What comes easier to you than anything else?  I’m not asking about your job. Your job and your gifts might coincide, but they don’t always.  I’m asking, What … Continue reading →

          Volatile grace.  An interesting juxtaposition of words, isn’t it?  Sounds like an oxymoron.  Grace is one of the biggie theological terms.  It has to do with acceptance, radical acceptance of people just as they are, “wherever they are on … Continue reading →

In preparation for tonight’s service, I looked back through some of my meditations from Christmas Eve services past.  Many of them dealt in some way with the absence of the baby Jesus from the nativity scene.  A couple of years … Continue reading →