In quiet corners of our communities, people are still committed to one another’s good, even across deep difference. 

Eight years in this old house have brought many dreams fulfilled and new dreams shaped by the kingdom.

Our participation in the electoral process forms us and trains us. Into whose image and toward what vision of goodness—well, that all depends.

One of my favorite posts of the year! I reflect on seven years on our street and in this house, and on seasons of receiving as a sign of God’s coming Kingdom.

“Loving our enemies” is not a mere lens through which to see the world, but a mandate Jesus actually means us to follow. Jesus shows us the depth of his meaning as he embodies his own words on the Cross, saying of those those who falsely accused, mocked, tortured, and murdered him: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

If I am to follow Jesus into loving God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, then I must do it here, right where I am.

The love and life of Christ in our home bears witness to the truth that our family, our home, our street is caught up in something not just a century old, but something eternal.

This Epiphany, as we’ve soaked up the stories of the visit of the wise men, Jesus’s presentation at the temple, his baptism, miraculous healings, and his transfiguration, I have been so struck by the tangibility, the physicality of God’s glory and light revealed in Christ. It means something that Jesus has a face with actual eyes that people could actually look into to know that they are loved, safe, valued. And that God-made-man could also receive love from the faces of those who loved him.

A few nights ago Sam and I bundled up (one of us using Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer finger puppets as a glove—pick your battles, they tell me), and set out to deliver some Christmas gifts to the houses on our street.

Noah had his yearly visit to the pediatrician last week. Our pediatrician's office requires masks for everyone two years and older, so we put ours on and had fun taking pictures and making secret silly faces under them while we waited.