The cross is where resurrection is conceived. The cross is where hope is born.

When our highest value is productivity, we dehumanize ourselves, which is to say we separate ourselves from God.

To truly be close to God we need to be able to trust in God. We cannot exercise trust when we are only surrounded by certitude.

I invite us to ask ourselves, “What might I release during this time to invite respite?"

We don’t have to keep plugging away. We don’t have to keep moving at this exhausting pace. We need to slow down. We. Need. Respite.

Above all, Paul was trying to remind the communities he wrote to what every Christian’s anchor should be: love.

That’s what we do as a Christian community: we seek the roots, we find Jesus there, and we let him change every part of us.

God wants to be in relationship with us: reaching out to us and inviting us to reach out to God - even in our scariest times.

If our baptism doesn’t compel us to live into the values Jesus taught, then it is meaningless. Our faith is empty.

A sermon by The Rev. Danáe M. Ashley shared by Deacon Laurel.

In Jesus, we know that God finds us through our vulnerability.

The fact is God calls and uses ordinary and flawed me and ordinary and flawed you.

Our faith is not one of certainty, it’s a faith of possibility.

Jesus comes as the least of these, asking “how are you going to prepare the way for me?”

This is my Advent understanding process. 1. Visualizing those trees. 2. Asking how and what questions to invite the STORY. 3. Waitressing

We have enough to give the hungry food. We have enough to give the thirsty drink. We have enough to welcome the stranger into our borders.

This parable is about the courage to use the gifts God gave you. Not courage in the face of fear, but courage in the face of comfort.

Hope is made manifest in what we do, not just how we feel. Just as our faith is made manifest in how we live, not just how we worship.

We may never fully know or see the kingdom in this lifetime, but I think we get glimpses.

Reading and applying the Bible without love can get pretty scary pretty fast. It’s love that rescues us.