The Gospel reading from John 2:13-22 is about Jesus clearing the Temple of all the clutter of business-as-usual filling up the sacred space that should be kept free from the marketplace.  Jesus is zealous.  He turns over the whole sacrificial pretense of placating God’s wrath and making His House fit our lifestyle with the marketplace of low expectations. Jesus is still zealous for you and me.  Through His suffering death and resurrection His love is poured out to us so

When ‘Snarky’ Becomes Bullying Many of us had childhoods guided by the wisdom of Thumper, who famously said, “If you can’t say something nice, don‘t say nothing at all.” (Bambi, 1942, Walt Disney Productions) However, when youthful behaviors needed modifying, others of us had Proverbs 15:4 quoted to us, probably by mothers tired of kids quarreling with each other: “The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.” (I will admit that in

The Greatest Commandment Mark 12:30, says “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”   Last week I had an epiphany regarding this greatest commandment. I was participating in my weekly bible study and in a video, we were watching, the speaker talked about loving the Lord with all your mind. I have spent more time thinking about loving the Lord with my heart

Driving in the Fog I suspect if I had been walking through it, I would have found it rather beautiful.  Perhaps if I had stopped and stood quite still out in the midst of it, I could have seen its veiled shapes and outlines, watched it move about, heard its secrets, smelled the scent of things hidden in its pockets.  I might even have seen others seeking their way as well.  But I was driving a car, and it

The Miracle of... As I reflect over my long life, I feel especially blessed to have witnessed at least two miracles… the miracle of life and the miracle of death! At age 16, I got a job at our small rural hospital as a nurse’s aide with on-the-job training.  They taught me how to take care of an infant after birth; however, I had not yet seen a baby be born.  Finally, a birth was happening on my shift. 

It never ceases to amaze me how different we are as human beings. My first realization came when I was grieving the loss of my first husband.  Other widows would approach me and share how they got through it, mostly.  Then there were humorous statements like, “Your husband can’t die, you love him too much”.  Isn’t that a wonderful illusion to think that love can keep your loved one alive?  And then there was a lady in my exercise

I always wanted God to show Himself in a blaze of glory, yet as I grow older God is in the little things or moments.  My last reflection contained observations made while on a remote outing.  All the smaller rocks were rounded off and one would think “Why bother with little rocks”?  Yet how did they get here?  Well, down the hill from my vantage point is a large dry river bed.  Or is it?  It is probably a result

When I last wrote a reflection to share in October, I felt there was more to share so here I go again. We are talking about praying through music and songs. We are talking connecting with God—--Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In case you haven’t read my other reflection, I find that I am most connected to God when I spend time in prayer through praise and worship time daily. This morning I woke up and my spirit was singing

Cassie and Kidder The first time I saw Cassie, she was standing on the median with a small "donations needed" sign right before I turned onto the freeway. She was petite, fragile, and too bent over for someone her age. Her glasses were broken. That was two years ago. Her bright smile and twinkling eyes caught my attention. To give or not to give money to the homeless on the street can be a conundrum for some. Will the

The Gift of Family Since Thanksgiving, I have had many conversations about what people were going to buy their loved ones for Christmas and how they were going to celebrate. I love and struggle having those conversations with people. I love them because it is an opportunity to connect with people and to hear what is on their minds and in their hearts, but I struggle with them too, because I am in a season of life where I

You Can’t Cook from the Other Room My friend Annie in the Bronx uses an expression that translates roughly from Yiddish as, “You can’t cook from the other room.” She offers these words to me when I make an offhand comment about something that I wish could be different, or that I would like to do but haven’t gotten around to doing yet. If I venture into “coulda-woulda-shoulda” territory, she responds with the words, “Jody, you can’t cook from

Our Hope of Heaven One of our favorite worship songs at PWC is I Can Only Imagine, by Bart Millard of MercyMe, who penned the song after the death of his father. The lyrics resonate profoundly with all of us who have lost a loved one. Why? Because it sings of HOPE…our hope of heaven. It paints a striking glimpse of life after death…of meeting Jesus face to face…of eternal life in our heavenly home…our HOPE. There are basically two

Hope for Joy One of the greatest joys of my life is to be a father on Christmas morning.  I carry on the tradition that my father did when we were kids.  No one was allowed downstairs until he went out to make sure all was clear, and that Santa made it out safely.  As children we were so overwhelmed with joy that we were jumping up and down with anticipation of what might be under the Christmas tree

For so many years, my life was super busy.  I had three full time jobs, lived at the most active church in Arizona, and had tons of friends who wanted to spend time together.  I enjoyed my life, but I would often think to myself, “I wish I had some peace and quiet.”  Then, all my bad stuff happened.  And, what happened was that I had a ton of quiet, but no peace.  It was then I realized that

Hope for Wisdom One of my favorite Christmas Carols is the song, “Do You Hear What I Hear.” It was written in 1966 by Noel Regney and Gloria Shayne. The song was a prayer for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis and calling people to put God first again in their lives. The song tells the story of the birth of Christ and the signs that lead up to the world knowing of the great miracle of God’s Love.

I can’t believe it is ADVENT!  Christmas is right around the corner.  As we get older, it is true, time seems to pass more quickly.  Before we know it, our Christmas trees will be put up and taken down.  The Christmas shopping bills will be due, and we will be facing 2024. For Advent this year our them is a Matt Maher song called, “Hope for Everyone.”  No doubt, we all want hope.  No one wants to live in

The Meaning of Thanksgiving Day Thanksgiving Day will shortly be upon us. For many, Thanksgiving is a celebration to spend with family, friends, and for a lot of people, football. But, on this special day it should be all about gratitude and most of all, giving thanks to Jesus. The meaning of Thanksgiving Day needs to be centered on gratitude, urging people, young and old, to look inward at what they have instead of outwards at what they want

Perspective Perspective: a particular attitude toward, or way of regarding something; a point of view. I feel like I have a wide range of perspective on many areas of life, such as people that I follow on social media, political parties, cultural traditions, Christians, unbelievers, people who are like me, those who are not like me, even very different from me.  Why? I feel this is important. I want to gain perspective. All of us were created in the

Chapel of the Holy Cross For those who have read my previous reflections they usually begin with, “As many of you know, we travel often.” This one is no different, but this time we are more local, Sedona. We spend several weeks in the summer in Sedona.  On this trip John and I went back to visit the famous Chapel of the Holy Cross.  It was afternoon we were thinking it wouldn’t be crowded.  Wrong.  There was a mass

Thoughts on the New Creation: Will It Ever Rain? It rained last night: While I was restless; while I was quiet; while I listened. The thunder and lightning flashed and hurled their clapping hands together and kept me awake. I didn’t look out my window or opened the shades to fain an interest. I knew what it meant, opening the blinds would make no difference only require an intrusion upon what nature and God had designed to happen. I

The Big Power of Small Gestures Ten years ago, Fr. Dale and I put together a little book called Kindness Matters: Hospitality in a Hostile World. (Available at The Cross Shop, Amazon.com, or Barnes & Noble). Our intent was to encourage all of us to take a fresh look at how well we are doing being true hosts in a diverse and complicated world. The hope was – and still is -- that we seek ways to accept the

Fall: Changing of Seasons Fall has always been one of my favorite seasons of the year. Growing up in Iowa, everyone looked forward to fall by the leaves, and trees changing colors. The crimson, gold, forest green and orange foliage seemed to sprout up everywhere setting the stage for cooler months ahead. The month of October definitely begins the rush for fall decorations, planting of fall flowers, the smell of apple cider, caramel apples, pumpkin coffees, cookies, candles or

Today I want to share with you my time of Praise and Worship that I try and do daily.  I find it also a time of prayer, a time of connecting with God by praying through hymns and worship songs.  I really feel like praying through music it not only opens a door for me to talk to God, but also a time for the Holy Spirit to talk to me.  What more can I ask for?  When I decided

The Christian Church today has become emotionless. So many denominations have lost the passion, joy, and intense love the early Christians seemed to have had. It was passion that drove the early apostles to take the message of Christ to places they never dreamed of going. St. Paul was on of the most passionate believers who ever lived. His passion led him to suffer, sacrifice, serve, and preach even when it put his own life in danger. And, through it

As a young adult I realized that I was being called to live a committed single life rather than being called to married life. My faith was strong. I believe that was the result of receiving the gift of faith after asking for that gift at a Life in the Spirit seminar shortly after high school. However, lacking strong family bonds, I came to focus on my non-blood relative(s) friendships as the ties that bind. I made sure that my