Pastor Tom's Community

  We can be so sensitive, defensive, and aggressive about asserting that we are right and everyone else is wrong. Jesus never demonstrated any of that sort of insecurity. He just put it all out there and people could see the truth if they would. When challenged about his authority, he did not waste time…

"And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.  And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying … And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. … And…

  I do not know every sadness of humanity, Lord."Man of Sorrows, what a name for the Son of God, who came …"I do not know.Thou knowest. Each heart knows its own sadness, you have told us …And I believe for I have received the gits of sadness … In the dark,In the night,In the…

A mental note isn’t worth the paper it is written on. You can make mental notes all day long, but they lack the safety features of paper and digital notes. For one thing, you lose them. They exist, but they are floating out there is a closet of cerebral clutter and are only retrieved when…

  There are two roads to life. They have many expressions and characteristics, but I want to focus today on one dimension of choice: Playing it safe or risking everything. Most people agree that “stupid risks,” those made in a stupor of pleasure seeking irrationality, are worthless and possibly evil. That is because they have…

"Where there is despair, [let me sow] hope." – Prayer of St Francis Oh God, there is so much despair in the world.Desp-AIR, taking the wind out of our sails, the bounce from our steps,The rhythm from our souls.Airless we gasp for something to breath …Let us breathe in hope, Oh God of hope.Let us,…

  "Don't bank on the power brokers of this world" is what the compiler and editor of the psalms identifies as the core message of Psalm 146. They can neither make you nor break you. God is on the side of the powerless. The powers of this world are temporal and finite. The best they…

  This is the description of a man whose very life irks people. Wicked people get angry with him. They gnash their teeth. Their feelings about him are visceral and consuming. His life holds up a mirror to their greed and avarice and they do not like what they see. Yet, they continue. Look as…

  I memorized this as a young teen and it burned a home into my soul where it has lived, thrived, and nurtured me for fifty years.   Requiem by Robert Louis Stevenson   "Under the wide and starry sky Dig the grave and let me lie: Glad did I live and gladly die, And…