First, we must note that this Gospel reading is one of the few that occurs two times a year-acknowledging how often storms pop up in life and urging us to be prepared.  This reading is like a fire drill, a cell phone alert to always be vigilant-since money problems, work problems, health problems, often come…

In 2026, the Sagrada Familia, the Church of the Holy Family in Barcelona is set to be completed.  I’ve never seen Antoni Gaudi’s masterpiece in person, but the pictures are stunningly beautiful, bold flying buttresses and twisted towers rising up over the plain urban landscape. Even more compelling than how this cathedral looks finished, is the story…

Let’s go about it this way.  If you asked the average person Olympic couch surfer what kind of medal they would prefer winning and rank them in order, 99% would say we first want Gold, if not gold then silver, if not silver then bronze. Well as is often the case, our Christian faith reverses…

“Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we must be…

“When the student is ready the teacher will appear. When the student is truly ready…The teacher will Disappear.”  This bit of ancient wisdom from the Tao Te Ching adds needed Eastern perspective to our dominant Western worldview on how we learn and grow to become better students of our Lord Jesus Christ, the greatest teacher…

Recall that Sabbath rest is the prime directive, baked into creation and the only way to live fully.  Time was the first thing that God made Holy, and in that space we rest in God with Jesus Christ.  To not do so is spiritual homicide, slavery to the passing and hollow pleasures of the world.…

Well it just so happens that in today’s assigned reading, we see that over 2000 years ago, the Apostle Paul was also an Olympics watcher. We don’t know if Paul thought the Olympics a relatively good or bad thing.  Paul did not spend much time talking about the relative good or evil of things in…