Pastor Tom's Community

  Elements melting with fire … heavens set ablaze and dissolving. These are images from 2 Peter 3:8-15.   We had a taste of fire this week.   California has been on fire for months.   We experience firestorms in our lives.   Fire today reminds me of …   1. F – The FURY…

I walk slowly through the morning …Adagio.Otherwise, I must run and,Though running is good,It is not …Now.Now is slow …Like snow … flakes falling,So my falling thoughts …Heaven sent must have a place to fallUpon.Fall on me, thoughts and wordsof Heaven as I waitin Adagio,Moving,Yet slowly. I rise early to move slowly so that when…

“But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.” – Amos 5:24  It is as if Amos were here with us today. His words sing out the song of “judgment” or “justice.” It is a strong word for what happens in a community or a nation when God works through people…

Psalm 20:1 – May the LORD answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. In the spirit of blessing and benediction, we come to pray for a friend. Such a prayer blesses the giver, the receiver, and the heart of God. In this case, the intercessor…

Psalm 21:1 – O LORD, the king rejoices in your strength. How great is his joy in the victories you give! The truest and noblest kind of joy is always rooted in who God is and what God does. Human victories are inconsequential. Heavenly victories are sources of great rejoicing because they are divine in…

"I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted: (2 Cor 4:13 )  We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak …" – Psalm 116:10 When did believing begin for you? Can you trace its progression through…

"It is in dying that we are born to eternal life." – Prayer of St. Francis So, let me die today and die daily. There is nothing in my instincts to pray such a prayer. But then, there is nothing in my instinctual drive to cling … … to extinct-ual or … extinguishable "living" that…

  "It is in pardoning that we are pardoned." How can I, God of mercy,How can I humble myselfTo seek Thy forgivenessIf I am haughty enough to demand retributionFrom my neighbor?How can I seek pardon,Guilty as I am,If I withhold it from one who has offended me?Is there not one entry way to my soul…

Show me your pain and I will show you your passion.It is the same and it is transforming, first, by transforming itself …into joy!Without the pain,there is no passion,Without the passion,there is no joy.Without the joy …Without the JOY!?!?You must be kidding me!Without the joy, I'll go back to bed.But with joy, I'm going out…

  Oh LORD,We are also your planting,Pleasant to your sight.You have looked for justice,Whose lips have kissed mercyAnd peace.You have sought truth among us.You have longed for us to do what is right,To love you supremely,To love our neighbors as ourselves,As ourselves,'Our neighbors,Our neighbors,Your children,Jesus among us,The least of these.Instead,You have found bloodshed.Oh God, forgive,Revive,Restore,Requite,Renew,Review…