Pastor Tom's Community

The thirst thought I have is to eliminate the "and" because an adequate definition of "shalom" includes "well-being" of all and that includes justice. Furthermore, an adequate definition of justice implies well-being and the righting of wrongs. Peace is not the absence of conflict. That is an inadequate definition of peace. There is plenty of…

"O LORD our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings." – Psalm 99:8 The psalmist sings another paradox. Paradoxes make great poems and songs. They are also, often, along with other arts, the only way to convey great truths. God forgave the men, but avenged…

Let us delight the heart of God and make room at the table for all who will come. My tribe has a checkered history with forced conversions, violent power-grabbing, and militaristic exercise of religious dominance. To deny that is to deny history. To not care is to ignore scripture. We are flawed in our common humanity…

Jeremiah cries out in anguish and writhes in pain for his people and for his world. He did not have the newspapers, television, radio, or internet to inform him of the precarious state of his world. He could see it and he did not divorce himself from it. This pain is from two directions. He…

  Sometimes you just need to refresh yourself in the cooling waters of Ein Gedi. King David did. On a hot summer day in Israel, I did too. So often, God has brought me to such a place, space, and moment. As he was hiding in the desert, pursued by King Saul, David found the…

  "Peace, be still." Mounds of trouble in the world …Mountains of turmoil …Soil of fear …Toil of tears …But my soul can be still,Sided with by the One who walks beside.When I cried, He heard.When I sighed, He spoke the Word.Nothing has changed.I am not shaken. These are days of grace.   (The melody is Finlandia…

“And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.” – Psalm 55:6 It was November 21, 1783 in Paris, France. Physicist Jean Francois Pilatre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes fulfilled the dreams of generations when they became the first humans to fly.…

During this period of time, two years ago, I took an ambulance ride. I had not been feeling my best for a year. I had been growing increasingly sluggish for a few months. I was losing balance. A few times, lost consciousness. Working in the garden one day in March, 2015, I had all the…

Moses was so reluctant to do fulfill the mission for which he had been shaped and to which he had been called. When confronted with the urgency and the possibility of being the catalyst to lead a nation from slavery to destiny he came up with a series of excuses. I am unlearned.I am unable.I…