Grace Upon Grace

That's the way it is. I hate that statement.  It's such a depressing approach to life.  There's no room for improvement, no hope, and no grace. Since receiving my call to ministry and having had exposure to theological discussions, I suppose I am always aiming for the bigger picture.  At the end of the day, what's the most important aspect of life.... I can say without a doubt that this little phrase is not my bigger picture.  I am looking towards God's grace, hope, peace.  I want to play a part in bringing about God's Kingdom here and now.  I want to participate in grace, hope, and peace. I can't do that if I accept the mundane, disgraceful, and greediness of life as my reality and truth. As I'm traveling through and out of adolescence and naivety, I have realized just how disappointing this world is...... Insurance plans.... how much money do I have to spend in order for you to cover me, and even then is it enough? Finding a church home......

Below is a sermon I've written for the folks at Sweet Life, a nursing home/rehab center.  God revealed a message that I needed to hear.  Maybe you need to hear it, too. Sweet Life 7/14/13 Colossians 1:1-14 Theme:   Live Worthy Lives; Be Encouragement to Others Sometimes we just need to hear some good news.   Sometimes we need to hear the encouragement.   As soon as we wake up in the morning, we are constantly faced with the brokenness of the world around us.   Flipping through the pages of the morning newspaper, we read stories of disappointment, defeat, and death.   Plane crash in San Francisco kills 3, injures several.   Grueling trials of the Zimmerman case.   Gun violence in the streets. In our conversations with family and friends, we hear about failed marriages, lost jobs, runaway children. Everyday we hear and see all the broken things in our world.   We can easily get caught up in...

The life God has invited us to is SO different than what we think it should be.   In our society, competition has become our focus.   We are always on edge trying to figure out how we are better than other people.   Social classes are pitted against each other by saying the rich people are better than the poor people.   In fashion, models are competing against each other in an effort to prove how much prettier and talented they are than someone else.   In the countless reality shows on tv, we see one competition after another.   It is all about how those people aren’t as good as us.   Even more so, we are always trying to find ways of how we are better than other people, even if those people are actually on our side.   In seminary, sometimes part of classroom discussion becomes less about learning theology and more about how to look smarter than other people in the room.   In sports, one teammate may be competing against another teammat...

Below is a sermon I wrote for a Sermon Series at my school.  It is a reflection of where I find myself in my relationship with God and others.     Learning to listen.       When engaging in conversation with someone who speaks a different language, you have to learn how to listen intently to his or her words.   As an English speaker, I can slightly listen to another English speaker and am still able to understand what they are saying.   However, when I am listening to a Spanish speaker, I have to focus.   I cannot ‘fake listen’.   As I learn Spanish, I pick out certain words or phrases, pick up on context clues, and am able to broadly understand what is being said.      However, I want to know exactly what is being said so I can train myself to hear it and then eventually speak it.   I narrow in on the shapes their mouths make.   I watch their hand gestures.   I listen ...