Any of us who have been parents have had to utter those sad but familiar words to our kids: Life isn’t fair, honey. Live long enough and it becomes clear that fortune is capricious and we’re never really in control of the outcomes. And yet we still cling to the idea that God will do it differently – it’s like we revert to being children in our hopes of assurance in a risky world.
Read MoreWherever Jesus goes, he heals people. Sometimes without even intending to, he heals people. God is healing, and Jesus is so transparent to God that healing flows out of him all the time. But that healing isn’t always welcome. People want the beggar to stay the beggar, for the dead to stay in the tomb, for clear rules about whose fault it is that sickness happens in the first place. But God’s order doesn’t look like our order. God has a better way for us to live. Yet sometimes we get so settled in dysfunction that we don’t really welcome that healing when it comes.
Read MoreReally, the Spirit comes blowing along to us in our lives all the time, in all kinds of ways. Maybe you feel it when you’re outside under trees. Or maybe when you hear a stirring piece of music, or when a conversation gets really good, when you’re really connecting. Maybe as you come here to worship you feel it, or in our Bible studies together when suddenly it all seems to spark. These are times when the Spirit comes to feed and nourish us, when we can drink deeply from the Spirit – to be followers of Jesus, disciples, students, learners at Jesus’ feet.
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