Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in a lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope.
Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we are saved by love.
Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith.
– Reinhold Niebuhr
I had no choice but to be a Christian. Continue reading
Reading up for a sermon last week, I found the staggering statistic: 50% of people in the U.S. who suffer from depression do not seek treatment for their illness. I couldn’t help but wonder why, Continue reading
“Old Church Tower at Nuenen” van Gogh, 1885
Did you know that Van Gogh almost became a pastor? Continue reading
“Every branch that bears fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”
Look at the stained glass windows around you this morning. They’ve been given at various times for various members of the community, and as any chorister will tell you, they’re a symbol of how God’s light shines through each of us. As we look closely at the passage from the Gospel of John this morning, I want to offer these to you as a metaphor for God’s work in us as we consider what it means to be pruned, and where exactly the Good News is in the revelation that we should expect spiritual amputations. Continue reading
hope of things not seen 
![via](http://"VanGogh%20F84" by Vincent van Gogh - uploader was "Stumps". Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VanGogh_F84.jpg#/media/File:VanGogh_F84.jpg){kind=link}