I read a lot of posts along the line of “things I would say to my younger self”. I have never read anything about what we could learn by spending time with our young selves. Maybe it would be useful.So often we think of life as something that moves forward, and so we had best […]
Posts in the discipleship category:
chronic illness, conferences, disability awareness, disability ministry, disability studies, discipleship
ITD day 1
I am attending the conference for <a href= I am attending the conference for the Institute on Theology and Disability. This is a group of scholars, pastors, and other people with various kinds of interests in theology that has anything to do with disability. Their past presentations are viewable on their YouTube channel, linked above. […]
chronic illness, conferences, disability awareness, disability ministry, disability studies, discipleship
ITD day 1
I am attending the conference for <a href= I am attending the conference for the Institute on Theology and Disability. This is a group of scholars, pastors, and other people with various kinds of interests in theology that has anything to do with disability. Their past presentations are viewable on their YouTube channel, linked above. […]
Review: When Chronic Pain and Illness Take Everything Away
One of the most common experiences of people with disability or chronic illness is feeling intruded on by Christians who come and lay hands on us to pray for our healing without permission. Whether we do or don’t want healing, the problem is that people don’t enter our world to learn about the comples emotions […]
Testimony, Interrupted
Kevin and I were friends for many years prior to our marriage in 2012. During the last few years he visited me several times in Indiana and went to worship with me at Park Place Church of God. I began uploading recordings of services to our Dropbox account so that he could hear the services […]
Encountering Jesus in Gethsemane
I sat alone in my dorm room, weeping and wondering what I would say if anyone found me and asked what was wrong. The truth would have been that I was upset because my companionship was rejected, and I didn’t feel that I had the right to be upset. I felt that I was simply […]
Book Review: Freedom to Flourish
Recently I was gifted a copy of Freedom to Flourish by Elizabeth Garn in exchange for a review (honest of course). Elizabeth and I became friends through a group that connects women who have been to seminary. Our backgrounds and work are somewhat different but it is a joy to fellowship and especially to read […]
On Faith and Prayer
I have been having a number of conversations about faith lately. They all come to one center. I can’t live a life of faith in God and at the same time plan as if God might not take care of me. I have wrestled for most of my life with the concept of what it […]
By Faith and Not by Sight
It may be tempting, when seeing this title on a blind person’s blog, to think that this post will be about something inspirational based on life as a blind person. Blindness gives us great opportunities to live by faith since we cannot see, right? Certainly this is a great idea; but it is a misinterpretation […]
The Heart of Confession
Jesus knew that Peter would deny knowing him… Was it because Jesus had some amazingly prescient knowledge of what was to come? Or did he have wisdom about what humans do when in severe distress? He had been in other situations in which people’s family refused to tell the truth because it meant associating them […]
God My Refuge and the Man Born Blind
My introduction to biblical studies did not come gently. My parents did as much as they humanly could to provide me a Bible in a format that I could read; but in the 1980s braille Bibles were costly and hard to store. Individual hard-bound volumes cost $40 each; and 18 of them were required to […]
biblical studies, conferences, disability ministry, disability studies, discipleship, healing narratives
Breaking the Powers of Silence and Exclusion
This is the audio of my presentation from the 2020 meeting of the Wesleyan Theological Society: “Breaking the Powers of Silence and Exclusion: Empowering People with Disabilities for Discipleship”. If you prefer, read the text of the paper. Right click to download breaking the Powers of Silence and Exclusion
Teaching the Holy Spirit and the Church at Smyrna
I am currently teaching via video to theological students in Pakistan about the theology of the Holy Spirit. They have many questions, and I allow their questions to guide some of the plans I make for the class sessions that I teach. Last week, a student asked about the letters to the seven churches in […]
The Gospel Brings Life
The Gospel … the message of salvation … is about God taking a person’s vulnerability and shame and turning it into something that empowers them to speak about His goodness and love. It isn’t about God wiping away any trace that shame ever existed, or simply giving us what we want. I am convinced that […]
Doing Unto Others
I have been thinking about why the theology of doing unto others what you would have them do unto you does not work. Often we simply cannot imagine wanting someone to do unto us what others are asking that we do unto them. We have become so comfortable in our own situation that we have […]
Why Do We Rejoice?
Rejoice, rejoice! Immanuel shall come to thee, O Israel. So often we rejoice not because of what God has promised, or who God is, but because of what God has done. But the Biblical story is filled with people who rejoiced in God’s promise and lived their trust in that promise, whether or not they […]
The Words We Speak
The words we speak hold the power of life and death–not only for those to whom we speak but for others who are affected by the ripples created by our words. Let us speak blessing, that we may bring life to all we touch and all who are touched by those we touch. Otherwise we […]
Sermon: I Will Praise the Lord
“I Will Praise the Lord” is a sermon based on Leah’s response to her circumstances, specifically the fact that even the blessings of God were not enough to make Jacob love her. Sermon text: Gen. 29:15-35: 15 Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell […]
God’s Call is Forever
Do you ever feel like asking God why you were the one chosen to do something? Why not send someone else? That is what Moses did. Moses was so persistent that God’s anger burned against him. Here is what came of that interaction. Watch on YouTube. Text is Exo 4:1-16.
Remember and Live by Grace
My dear Christian brothers and sisters, I ask that you will read this post and I pray that God will move on your hearts to hear the message here./p> When the Israelites were delivered from slavery, God commanded them concerning their treatment of each other and of aliens living among them. These commands were given […]
The Power of Words
Church and other communities of faith, I call on you today to do one thing and do it daily as a critical matter of spiritual discipline. Do it in your homes and do it in your faith settings. Teach your young children and teens this critical lesson in all that you do. Cruel words should […]
Feelings of Belonging in the House of God
Today in my church, a person took time to tap me on the shoulder and say, “Here’s the plate,” when the offering was being taken. I took the plate and passed it to the next person. I happened to not have money in hand today, but I appreciated the opportunity to participate in the passing […]
To Seek and Save the Lost
The text of this sermon is Lk. 19:1-10. The sermon was preached in Muncie, Indiana. Click to listen, or right click to download: To Seek and Save the Lost
Weeds in the Daisy Pot
I am a city girl. I don’t like to get dirty. Not one bit! I grew up on the Texas coast, but I hate the beach. And I know absolutely nothing about farm animals or plants. Several years ago, my mother introduced me to the joy of caring for potted flowers. I was struggling with […]
The Two Trees and the Everyday Fall
In Genesis 2-3, the story is told of the “fall of humankind”. It is one of the most popular stories in American culture. In particular, it is often used to put women in their perceived place. I have a new spin to put on it. There were many trees in the garden that bore good […]
Can We Carry the Cross
I ran across a post on Facebook today that mentioned people carrying crosses down the road and concluded with a reflection on how different the world would be if we lived each day with awareness of what it was like for Jesus to carry the cross. This reflection made me think about what it in […]
Thinking About Disability Ministry
I read a post this morning written by a person with a disability concerning the experience of growing up attending a Pentecostal church. The author pointed out that her condition was genetic, and she felt that the consistent focus on healing prayer and frequent questions regarding whether she felt better were evidence that something must […]
What to Do with Dones, Nones, and Church-Skippers
What should we do about “dones,” “nones,” and church-skippers? Should we treat them as wayward souls who should be won back to the church, give them lectures about why their decision is wrong? That is exactly what Carey Nieuwhof has done in a response to Christians who are done with church. Why Attitude Matters Nieuwhof […]
Bring Your Bible to School?
I read on Facebook that Focus on the Family is sponsoring a “Bring Your Bible to School” day in October. The comments, as I expected, were all in favor. Some people even asked, “Why does everyone else get to show their faith and we have to hide ours?” I was a bit stunned when I […]
my personal testimony
My church holds an event once a month called coffeehouse worship. We gather in an informal setting with snacks and have acoustic worship, and someone tells a bit of their own journey of faith. When I mentioned on Facebook that I was doing this, my out-of-town followers wanted to hear my story. So here it […]
when forgiveness matters most
One of the greatest temptations when working through trauma–or any kind of situation involving hurt–is to hold on to anger as if it is my right to feel it. I have even read comments from some people via books and articles that it isn’t necessary to forgive the person who hurt you. After all, the […]
Why I Stayed
Today, while browsing Facebook, I ran across an article: 10 Reasons Kids Leave Church. Every point resonated deeply with me. Kids leaving church is not a new problem, though every generation likes to talk about it like it is a fresh problem that must be solved immediately. As a child of the 70s and 80s […]