The church's mission of hospitality is first and foremost about making our neighborhood, city, country and world a place as hospitable as the church.

The welcoming presence of Christ at St. Timothy's—or any other church for that matter—comes primarily from the living stones who make up the church. However, the inanimate stones which make up the building are also part of Christ's welcoming presence as well.

As we welcome those who are broken in our society, we welcome Christ himself, and Christ then does what he always does, he heals us and invites us to embrace our own brokenness.

Raising kids in the faith in a culture resistant to gospel values requires a lot of support. If they don’t have adequate support, most parents just eventually give up because they have joined this battle without the requisite number of troops to support them.

“Self-justification is the heavy burden because there is no end to carrying it; there will always be some new situation where we need to establish our position and dig a trench for the ego to defend.”  (Rowan Williams)

Our country is desperately in need of churches that have a compelling mission. This need is even more obvious after yesterday’s shooting at a baseball practice of Republican congressman who were practicing for today’s charitable game between Republicans and Democrats.

Last week a member of a neighboring congregation, who drives by our digital sign on a regular basis, left a voicemail saying, “I hope you never take down the message ‘God loves you—no exceptions!’”

My first reaction to a barren time is usually to whine and groan about the unfairness and unpleasantness of it all. But what if I could begin to see such times as the essential pre-condition for new life?

The God of the Bible will often challenge our cherished assumptions about God. Letting those assumptions go is very hard to do; so hard in fact that we often stop reading the Bible all together.

Many tasks are too foreboding to take on alone; Bible study is one of them.