Pastor Tom's Community

  Old woman praying by Théophile Lybaert Father, I am reporting for duty. It is a joy to do so. Just the idea of being chosen for anything thrills and humbles me. Unworthy as I am, you see something in me that you can use because you put it there Ignite it, God. Fan the flame and…

Perhaps, I sometimes get into life, meaning, and theological/philosophical thinking way above my "pay grade." Do you ever over-agonize the bigger, deeper, loftier issues in the land of awe and wonder? It is not a call the shallow thinking or disengagement of our intellect, but a reminder of the limits of our consciousness. We come…

How do we become like the idols we create? What are the characteristics and limitations on the objects we worship that shape us into their own image? We make them in our images and find ourselves sucked into that place where we were when we made them and from there, we descend. But these are…

Demands and Dread I was facing the day with excitement and dread. The excitement of anticipation came from the developing reality that the day was pregnant with possibilities and packed with responsibilities that I relish, opportunities for good and for exercise of my gifts. The dread was for the same reasons and the gap between…

We've been resisting the same sucking vacuum since the first century. It is shaping the gospel of the kingdom into the framework of our old thinking and commercial/political/cultural (whatever) interests rather than allowing it to shape us into a new way of thinking, living, and relating. We are predisposed through our old nature to accumulate…

What is remarkable about the story and the reason for its retelling by the gospel compiler, Matthew, is the person being addressed. 1. First, she was a foreigner who was (a) the object of hostility and (b) outside the scope of Jesus' immediate (but not ultimate) mission focus. 2). Second, she was astute to Jesus'…

"Men think highly of those who rise rapidly in the world; whereas nothing rises quicker than dust, straw, and feathers."  – attributed to Augustus Hare and to Lord Byron There is a slow rise and a rapid rise. To these we must add, there may be no rise. Fluff floats and then gloats in its…

Doubts giving birth to deeper faith: This is the ministry of perplexity. This is the simplicity of complexity and the complexity of simplicity. This is the resolution of struggle in the quest for that rest that will not rest in easy answers or shallow understanding. Gravity is drawn toward the pebbles on the surface, but…

“…once you become real, you can’t be ugly, except to those who don’t understand.”

“And the woman left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, ’Come, see a man, who told me all the things that I ever did. Is this not the Christ?’” – John 4:28-29 Are we too attached to our water pots to carry the call of Jesus to…