It is told to us clearly in the Bible that Satan prowls around waiting to steal, kill and destroy. 1/6/2021 was a visible and tangible manifestation of the seeds of discontent he has been sowing for years, even centuries in our country. What we witnessed on that day...
God, we cry out to you today. We are thankful for the words that you give us through the prophet Joel, words that help us know how to navigate this invisible threat made visible through death, loss, and suffering. You remind us that there was another time, thousands of years ago, when...
This year, I couldn’t wait for the first Sunday of Advent. As a lover of the Christian Liturgical Calendar (and a nerd), I look forward to the start of the Christian new year, when the church stoles turn from green to purple and families come forward to light the Advent wreath...
I became a mother 5 years ago. That jump from 0 kiddos to 1 tiny baby nearly ended me. My world was invaded by a tiny being who absolutely depended on me. My ability to take a shower or use the restroom or watch a movie or sleep without being interrupted, or to go to Target alone or be...
Greetings, St. Jude family. Ashley and I consider it a great privilege to be counted among you. Thank you for the love and kindness you have shown us, St. Jude and the community. Because of your generosity, St. Jude has been able to give more than $70,000 over the past year to...
Martin was running through some announcements as everyone got settled for the Sunday service. He scanned the audience, took a breath and held it briefly. “I think it’s time to announce our new recovery meeting,” he said. That’s how it started—how SJOC was...
On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, a rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all...
The bible teaches us that God’s grace is sufficient. But what do you do when you feel that you are living outside of God’s sufficiency? I mean, there are days when I just don’t feel it. There are days that I’m really in the groove (I just aged myself) and there are days...
Hey Friends, Nika here. If you’ve ever taken a TAP class with me, then you know I like to assign final projects of sorts to drive home what God taught us in our classes. We have been dazzled by poems, recipes, musical scores, stories, and children’s books just to name a few. The goal...
Guilt and shame, it’s a messy part of ourselves that we do not want to examine. The terms creep into our language, but we don’t know how to distinguish between the two. Often used interchangeably even though the meaning of the two words are distinct. Guilt is linked to our...
