The Desert Evil
by Aaron Farnham
It is August of 2004, I am just arriving at Asbury College after about 6 months with UMVIM in Honduras. As a transfer student from a public community college in Upstate New York being in Kentucky at a Wesleyan Holiness school is a shock, culturally and to my faith.
I am on … Read the rest
Philippians 2:2-8 (from The Message)
Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the … Read the rest
Things 2020 taught me
by Amber and Sarah Sumners
Isaiah 54:13
All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the prosperity of your children.
Things 2020 taught me:
by Nevena Martin
On Tuesday morning, I cuddled my son as he received a breathing treatment in the Emergency Department. Some of the mist aimed at his mouth rolled over his nose, curled up my arm and dissipated in my own face. As I breathlessly observed him, hoping the medicine would ease his effort to breathe, I waited for the … Read the rest
by Daniel Malec
Mark 12:30-31 (NIV): Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
As I reflect on this scriptural reference from Matthew, I am struck by the … Read the rest
by Hope Cook
Mary Oliver says in her poem When Death Comes, “When it’s over, I want to say: all my life / I was a bride married to amazement.”
While we were on the road this past weekend, we stopped at a rest stop and I reflected on “rest stops.” I watched as people scurried from their cars and … Read the rest
by Sarah Sumners
Corinthians 12: 9-10 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, … Read the rest
Lent and Time
by Leland Spencer
This was originally published on March 19, 2016 and was written by former Oconee Street UMC member Leland Spencer, who is now assistant professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary and Communication Studies at Miami University.
Ecclesiastes 3:1
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”
In this Lenten season, I’ve been reflecting on … Read the rest
Make Room for God
by Joe Gunby
Adapted from the “An Invitation to Lenten Practices” from the Oconee Street UMC Ash Wednesday service on March 6, 2019.
Luke 6:12 One of those days, Jesus went out to the mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.
In Christian tradition there are three modes of prayer: confession, assurance and … Read the rest
by Joe Dennis
Proverbs 29:11
Fools give fool vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end.
I was filled with rage.
I was crippled with anger as the General Conference of The United Methodist Church voted to continue its discriminatory policies on LGBTQ people. I shot argumentative texts back and forth with Carla about leaving the … Read the rest