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Church communities are beautiful agony.  We weave others into ourselves, and ourselves into others, not fully realizing the risk we take. In community we share our triumphs and griefs, weddings and funerals, births and unexpected unemployment; these highs and lows are the vibrant threads of …

For more than thirty years, insights from the Christian Classic writers have helped in my spiritual formation. I have excitedly shared their thoughts in the university classroom, churches and retreats. Among the many writers, a dozen or more women have been my teachers–definitely Hildegard of …

Gregg Koskela bridges the gap between a medieval mystic and the modern reader making the prayerful, poetic passion of Hildegard accessible and relevant. Gregg weaves his own experience as a pastor into this exploration of Hildegard and as a result we are given the gift of …

I’m writing to those who, like me, identify as Christian and look to the bible to be authoritative and instructive in our lives. I’ve been largely silent publicly since the shooting at Pulse, a gay club in Orlando, Florida. Since then, I’ve been grieving, I’ve …

(Message given at Newberg Friends Church on May 10, 2015) Anyone here taken the written driver’s test lately? I thought I’d start today with a little DMV quiz. Take a look a this. Assuming these cars arrived at the same time, which of the cars …

(Message given at Newberg Friends Church on May 3, 2015) Barb Mitchell and her team usually have flowers up front on Sunday mornings. But when she saw the topic today was about marriages that last, she thought a 50th anniversary balloon would be a good …

(Message given at Newberg Friends Church on April 26, 2015. During the message, I asked for and received many excellent suggestions from the group. So unfortunately here, you miss those, and instead read some of what I prepared and didn’t share.) Jesus had a way …

(Message given at Newberg Friends Church on April 19, 2015) Remember last week I told you I usually come up with a little paragraph and the bible text we are using for a particular Sunday? Remember how I said sometimes it changes a lot when …

(Message given at Newberg Friends Church on April 12, 2015) Whenever I consciously think about it, the huge variety of ways that the bible talks about God overwhelms me. The spectrum goes from huge, cosmic God on one end…the God who creates everything, who parts seas, …