A PERSONAL PRAYER  Jesus, Were you afraid when you were in the wilderness? I read in the Bible that you were fully human, sent by the Father to face the same challenges I face, and more… So I think you were afraid. When you were in the desert, without food for forty days, face to face with the devil himself, were you afraid then? When you heard that they had beheaded your cousin John the baptizer, did fear for yourself and your disciples well up inside you? When you stood in the Garden of Gethsemane and the whip and the [...]

A PERSONAL PRAYER  O God, I am hungry right now. It is early morning, and I haven’t eaten. That hunger is a constant gnawing as I write. It keeps turning my mind away from my writing, my praying, and I have to work so much harder to stay focused. I am indeed a physical being, and I can’t deny that. But I am a spiritual being, too, and I want very much to live by the Spirit. Paul writes to the Romans  “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to [...]

We pray. We study the Bible. We make friends. We tell our stories. We give ourselves away in generosity and service. A PERSONAL PRAYER  God of love and healing, I remember some hard times, bleak midwinters of the heart and dry and parched summers of the soul. I remember wanting to stay in bed all day, but knowing the bedcovers couldn’t shield me from my troubles. But I made it through, God, somehow. I know it was only by your grace. Still, I must confess that while in the wilderness, I sometimes thought you had abandoned me. I can see [...]

We pray. We study the Bible. We make friends. We tell our stories. We give ourselves away in generosity and service.  This week, Bishop Scott Jones will preach at all of our traditional and Encounter Sunday morning services. Bishop Jones received both his Master’s degree and Ph.D from Southern Methodist University, has been a local church pastor and was on the faculty of Perkins School of Theology before he was elected bishop in 2004. He served for the last twelve years as the bishop in the Great Plains Annual Conference, covering the states of Kansas and Nebraska. He is the author [...]

We pray. We study the Bible. We make friends. We tell our stories. We give ourselves away in generosity and service. It is Time! This week, Scripture+Shared launches. St. Luke’s leadership set a single lofty goal for this year, what we call “The One Big Thing” – 2000 people in regular Bible Study with others by the end of 2017. I believe this experience can change the life of participants, and change the life of our whole congregation. Please join us! Download the app on your smartphone, or go to storage.storage.stlukesmethodist.org/bible. Join a LIFT group. Find a Bible Buddy (see more info in the “Some [...]

We pray. We study the Bible. We make friends. We tell our stories. We give ourselves away in generosity and service.  A PERSONAL PRAYER  O God, I need to succeed. I don’t want to be a failure. I need to be valuable, to make a difference in the world. I need to become a good person. I need to be a wonderful son, husband, father, grandfather, friend. I need to make you proud of me, God. I am Martha, working away, putting my shoulder to the wheel and leaning forward for your kingdom. What? No? I don’t need to [...]