Last week, I was sitting with a group of women in a Bible study. We were sharing some of our recent struggles.

"Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,' and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law." - Romans 13:8-10

I’ve been hearing a lot of talk recently about how many Christians believe we are living in the last days.

It seems to me that the majority of U.S. churches today are feed-good churches. They are designed to help people feel good. Good about themselves, good about God, good about the church.

I remember reading a story about an evangelist who visited one of the leper colonies in India. I don’t remember who it was or even where I read the story, but I’m pretty sure it was a true story.  They had all the lepers gather together in a large tent, waiting to hear what the evangelist had to say. As he stood in front of them, though, he wondered, God, what could I possibly say to them? They were in various stages of leprosy, living in a colony, separated from friends and family, ostracized from their communities. As he stood there, he was overwhelmed with love for them. He went up to one of the lepers in the front row, leaned down, and hugged him. Then he hugged the next man. And the next. And the next. Until he had hugged every person there, and they were all weeping.

Last week, I read "The Tattooist of Auschwitz" by Heather Morris. It’s a beautifully woven story about love, compassion, and resilience. Lale, the tattooist, is a Jewish man imprisoned in Auschwitz during the Holocaust and forced to tattoo numbers on his fellow prisoners. He has an incredible will to survive. As he struggles, he also does whatever he can for others, that they, too, might survive.

I saw this video today as I was wasting time scrolling through social media, as you do, about bummer lambs. It really spoke to me, so I wanted to share.

Over the past couple of weeks, we have seen multiple reports coming out regarding Alligator Alcatraz. These reports are perhaps not surprising to those who have been following ICE detention for any amount of time. They are still, however, horrifying.

Today is July 4th, but I'm having difficulty finding anything to celebrate other than a day off work. We are living in a time when our freedoms and our services are disappearing... and our neighbors are disappearing, too. They're going to foreign torture prisons and hostile countries, or some are being detained in detention (concentration) camps where their holders joke about feeding them to alligators. Yesterday, they announced that children will be sent to the cages we saw on the news in Alligator Auschwitz, too. My heart is shattered.

"God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." - 1 John 1:5b-7

"Consider this remarkable fact: in the Sermon on the Mount, there is not a single word about what to believe, only words about what to do and how to be." - Robin R MeyersIn my World Religions class, we’ve been talking a lot about what constitutes a religion. The dictionary defines religion as a complex set of beliefs and practices often revolving around something which is considered sacred or spiritual. Yet many of the adherents to the "religions" we are studying don't consider their beliefs and practices as a religion, per se, so then, should we? For example, the Diné people and many other indigenous groups don't use the word "religion" at all, rather calling their beliefs and practices "the way of life."

The politically motivated killings of a democratic politician and her husband over the weekend put a serious damper on what was otherwise an encouraging day – 13.14 million people showing up to unequivocally pronounce, “No kings in America”. The alleged murderer was arrested Sunday night. He’s been identified as a Trump supporter and an Evangelical pastor, which of course has caused ripples throughout the country.