Before I went to seminary, I taught preschool, and I’m so grateful for those years. I loved that time of life and I’ve been able to carry so many lessons from that work. Whether it’s having to use my teacher voice to get attention, or my knowledge of universally beloved children’s books, or the wayContinue reading “Becoming What We Receive”
We Need Each Other
There is perhaps nothing I love more than a good, solid metaphor. A good metaphor can both shows how a principle applies to a situation and tells a story about how it might link to a larger narrative as well. Currently, on the metaphors that I return to again and again is that ofContinue reading “We Need Each Other”
God’s Rest and Healing
Throughout my life, I can reflect back on the ways in which I have been privileged to have many different teachers and how many of my most important lessons in life have come from unexpected places. One continual, and perhaps surprising teacher, is a well-known painter from whom I learned that, “there are noContinue reading “God’s Rest and Healing”
Uncomfortable Places
The lessons one learns on the Camino span the gamut of complex, soul-deep lessons that take years to unpack and obvious ones like learning to be careful about how much stuff you carry in your pack. You tend to take a rain jacket and one change of clothes, the shoes you walk in, andContinue reading “Uncomfortable Places”
Pokeweed and the Kingdom of God
This sermon can be listened to here. One of the most powerful things I have ever seen in my life was watching Tibetan Buddhist Monks slowly tap colored sand out to paint a giant ten-foot by ten-foot mandala at the Parliament of the World’s Religions held in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2015. Each timeContinue reading “Pokeweed and the Kingdom of God”
Do Not Loose Heart
In the south rose window of the Chartres Cathedral in France about 60 miles from Paris, there is a particularly unique depiction of the writers of the four Gospels from the early 13th Century. Below the giant circle rose window are five lancet style-stained glass windows, with Christ being in the center, and flanking himContinue reading “Do Not Loose Heart”
Abide With Us
This sermon can be listened to here. One of my favorite hymns, of which there are many, that I haven’t been able to get out of my head this week is “Abide with Me.” It’s a haunting beautiful hymn, written by an Anglican priest in the early 1800s who was with his dying friend,Continue reading “Abide With Us”
Knowing and Being Known
While on sabbatical two years ago, I found myself sick with COVID, canceled plans, and an extended stay in Porto, Portugal because I could not fly home. By the grace of God, the Air BnB that I had rented was the property of a lovely couple who took hospitality very seriously. They left me aContinue reading “Knowing and Being Known”
Kindling Our Faith
There are particular skills in this world that I just do not possess: I am not a good speller, I struggle with geographical awareness, and I can rarely put a USB port in the right way on the first try. But one of these skills that evades me that never ceases to baffle me isContinue reading “Kindling Our Faith”
Foolish Hope
In our weekly campus ministry night, one of our students shared a prayer that she found when she was a teenager and often read for her youth group. It covered a lot of ground as it asked God to give us discomfort with unhealthy relationships, to give anger at injustice and oppression, and to giveContinue reading “Foolish Hope”
Becca Kello 