Lamoni Heartland Mission CenterHope in the Season of Advent Hope is a Powerful Word Hope is a powerful word when it is linked with tangible actions. As my friend and mentor Vince Lewis of the West Des Moines Congregation said on Sunday, if you hope to win the lottery but don’t buy a ticket, are you going to […]
A Fish Breakfast by the Galilee The 21st chapter of the Gospel of John provides a peculiar ending to the story of Jesus. Even as a resurrection appearance story it is unusual. While Matthew and Luke’s gospels tell of the ascension, John simply ends the story with Jesus having breakfast by the lake in the […]
Journey in the Mystery of God Steve Veazey, President of Community of Christ, recently shared in an interview with Linda Booth on the Project Zion Podcast in a very interesting discussion that touched on spirituality: I think it’s proven that hard times cause more people to spiritually yearn to seek God for help and hope […]
Pursue Peace on Earth! We see it on Christmas cards every year: “Peace on Earth!” But what would the world look like if individuals, congregations and communities truly pursued peace on earth? Is it important to “pursue peace on earth?” The reason Community of Christ pursues Christ’s mission to pursue peace on earth is deeply […]
Finding God in a Box of Cereal Mark 9:38-42, 49-50 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name […]
God Is Real And Can Be Experienced The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over mighty waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. Psalm 29:3-4 Many Christians have come to understand Biblical literalism as a problematic concept. If we attempt to read the Bible as a set of […]
Are You Still Celebrating Eastertide? Are you still celebrating? We are in the midst of the 50-day Easter season known as Eastertide. For many of us in Community of Christ still becoming accustomed to the liturgical calendar, we are less familiar with the season of Eastertide than we are with the seasons of Advent or […]
What Should Christians Believe About Mental Illness? Those who know me best may realize this is not the sort of question I pose. I do not suggest that there is one uniform belief about mental illness that ought to be held by those who follow Jesus teachings and consider themselves Christians. Nevertheless, many spiritual and […]
God is Creator – Part I From the very first verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:1, God is affirmed as Creator: “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth…” The creation story is classified in literature as an “origin myth.” But the deeper spiritual truth in the story is profoundly important in Judeo-Christian […]
Forgiven! The Gospel of Luke tells of Jesus appearance to Cleopas and another disciple on the road to Emmaus, a village whose location is probably about 7-8 miles from Jerusalem. Cleopas and the other disciple, realizing they had seen Jesus on the Road to Emmaus and are told that Jesus also appeared to Peter, so […]