Book: Mark

Sexual Intimacy is an exquisitely beautiful gift from God, but attempts to control and repress it frequently distort it into a hypocritical and malevolent force.

Glimpses of the transformed world that God makes possible transfix us and leave us hungering for more.

Pretending to be better than we are alienates us from God and one another. Being open and real about our weaknesses and failures open us to God and one another.

We are called to focus on Jesus – not the battles or the storms of life. Nothing is too big or too rough for God.

Jesus calls us to move beyond hostile identity politics, whether shaped by Sabbath keeping or #Outrage, and to welcome a new culture of love, forgiveness and welcome.

There is no neat finish to the Jesus story, because it is far from over. The risen Jesus is always ahead of us, calling us to follow and live the next chapter.

Jesus resisted the temptation to force his will on the world, and he pioneered a pathway for us to similarly refuse the exploitation of power.

When Jesus heals, he is not seeking to minister solely to the individual, but to heal a sick culture, and the culture we live in needs his healing.

Jesus demonstrates the need to reflect on our results and reject the easy success and popularity that are built on meeting basic needs.

The culture of God is emerging in our present world, confronting us with a choice – do we cling to our allegiance to the cultures that have raised us or let go of them and embrace the culture of God.

Our longing for God is met in the Holy Spirit who opens heaven to us and makes all things new.

For both God and us, time can drag when waiting for change, but patience is salvation when forgiveness is offered as a means of change rather than as a reward for change.