“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” Mark 5:43-45 These words from Jesus have been much on my mind recently. Enmity seems ever-present these days. We are constantly being asked to live our lives from a binary...

What does it look like to follow the Way of Christ in a time of socio-political upheaval, when there are such deep, partisan divides that seem irreconcilable? We are witnessing unnecessary and horrific violence on the streets of American cities. People are watching the same video footage of this violence and somehow reaching exact opposite conclusions about what happened. Political affiliation seems more determinative of opinion than empirical evidence. Political leaders and commentators...

During our annual giving campaign this year, we are highlighting our new mission statement: “Gather to Worship, Scatter to Serve, Love like Jesus”. I have been reflecting on the third part. What does it look like to love like Jesus? This, of course, can be answered in variety of ways. Christ-like love is: Unconditional – Jesus upended any notion that God’s love is limited to those deemed worthy by legalistic interpretations of the Jewish Law. He repeatedly and proactively extended...