Jesus keeps showing up in the strangest places. Maybe that could even include our lives.

Are you “able-bodied”? Or are you just temporarily nondisabled? Everyone’s physical ability is a temporary situation, and that frightens us.

Have you had the experience of someone asking you a question that was really just a way of saying what they wanted to say anyway and pretending they were interested? Or maybe their questions was even an insult?

As we reflect on John 9 and Jesus’s interaction with the man who was born blind, there’s a lot going on. It takes just 7 verses for Jesus to restore his sight. But the entire rest of the chapter is about the process of Jesus bringing more complete healing.

Often (in both the ancient and contemporary world) religious leaders focus on curing instead of healing. Jesus prefers the kind of healing that enables us to know God sees us and loves us and that includes restoring us to our social networks.

Much of scripture is written in poetry. Poetry can sometimes opens a window where we only saw a wall.

Sometimes it seems like a scarcity mindset actually heightens the true scarcity we are facing.

It’s not unusual at all for Jesus to heal someone and to then immediately send them on their way. He regularly missed out on great opportunities to do evangelism by letting the moment pass.

On Sunday we reflected on the story of the woman at the well. In so many ways it represents the kinds of opportunities we have every day to interact with others, to pay attention to their needs, to extend compassion and to do justice.

Perhaps one of the most common manifestations of the Kingdom of God is the conversations we have every day.

On Sunday we said this prayer together at church. It honors the people like Nicodemus who were curious about Jesus, but not certain.

In Jesus’s words, those with questions have '“the secrete of the kingdom of God.” What if our churches had taught this approach to curiosity?

Sometimes Jesus gives us privacy for our spiritual journey. Sometimes he doesn’t.

Nicodemus seems to have a bit of complicated relationship with his peers.

Brenna shared yesterday how she’d grown up being critical of Nicodemus. He didn’t even have the guts to show up in the day time, to be loud and proud about his faith journey. But then she shared how, of late, she’s had more compassion for Nicodemus.

As we wrap up the first week of Lent, take some time to reflect on the beginning of this 40-day season. Sit with this prayer, this poem. What stirs in you? What hopes for this season? What temptations to merely hover?

There are two types of spiritual practices: subtracting and adding. When you put them together they are particularly powerful.

If we quiet down our bodies and minds, it doesn’t take long for the voices to surface. On Sunday we took some time to ponder how Jesus spent time in the desert and had to contend with the same sorts of voices we do.

Dottie Oleson explores three different needs she had in her season of pregnancy, inviting us to consider what our needs are now.

This season leading up to Easter, called Lent, is pregnant with potential. Are you tapping into it?