BLOG––Encouraged by Faith

In the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches icons are ubiquitous. The brightly colored, naive paintings of Jesus, Mary and the apostles, often depicting biblical stories or portraying theological concepts, are used in times of worship, prayer, and for educational or decorative purposes. They...

A few months ago my newly nine-year-old leaned close to me during a quiet moment of Sunday morning worship. “Can I take communion?” He whispered in the way little boys do that can actually be louder than spoken words. I looked at him, faced with a decision to reflect on this request...

How many times have you changed your mind about something? I don’t mean whether or not you would order dessert, but really altered your position on a weighty matter? If you have a particularly stubborn nature like I do, probably not often. Has your mind been changed suddenly, or was change...

I watch hawks on a regular basis. There are Cooper’s hawks, sharp-shinned hawks and red-shouldered hawks in this area. By far the largest number of hawks I see, however, are the sturdy red-tailed hawks. At least two of them perch in a dying tree in a forested area at the edge of our...

Our world argues for everything to be mutually exclusive. We argue over position and place and prominence. We fight to be noticed, defended and celebrated. We argue over whose lives matter most, whose side God is on and whether he prefers elephants or donkeys, a socialist or free market...

We have buried children decades before we expected. We suffer from debilitating diseases. We have listened to descriptions of a bleak prognosis. We are stressed with the burden of caring for aging parents. We are shamed by our perpetual fall into the same sins. We are chased by our godless...

My mouth has got me into trouble a few times recently, and not just my mouth. It has also been my written words and my facial expressions as well. My words have not been as carefully chosen as they should be.  I have offended, and worse, hurt people I love dearly, and whom God loves. An...

    Lately, I have been busy, but feel I am accomplishing little. It is the sort of busyness our Western culture strangely seems to value. I could enumerate several tasks I have completed throughout the day, yet the weightier ones, the ones which possess the most significance seem to...

Jerry destroyed Oval. He ripped his seams wide open and pulled out all his stuffing. Jerry is our miniature labradoodle, and Oval is our eight-year-old’s favorite stuffed animal. He got him when he was about three years old on a trip to IKEA. He named him in the parking lot on the way to...

  As believers we proclaim Christ was born into this world for the sake of all peoples, all nations, all those like us, who are troubled and sinful and weary. However, if Christ came for the sake of the world, why was he born illegitimately to a small-town carpenter and his teenage wife?...