Acts 16:9-15, John 14:23-29 There was a story on public radio this week that struck me when I heard it as something I needed to remember. So, I actually stopped and listened to the remainder of the broadcast in the car even though I had reached my physical destination. Perhaps it was because I...

John 17:20-26 20I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, 21that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that...

Reading: John 17:20-26 One by U2 should be played in churches this Sunday. Because this text just plops us in the middle of a Jesus monologue with no context, no setting, and we need some sort of connection with something familiar to get us through it, I think. And didn’t we already finish out...

Reading: Acts 2:1-21 In reading this Acts text, no doubt some preachers will highlight the varied regions or areas that are mentioned in the first verses. I remember seeing this scene played out in a video series.  Little CGI flames appeared above disciple heads as one of the crowd started reciting where everyone was...

Acts 16:16-34; John 17:20-26 Upon the Baptism of Arjun Maddux Singh Malhotra This is confusing, being dropped into the middle of things without any explanation of what’s going on. The church year, the texts, the slice of Jesus’ prayer for his disciples before his death… its like someone took the pages out of our...

Dear Friends, We hosted a great event last night, which a number of you attended. Jeff Chu, the author of Does Jesus Really Love me?: A Gay Christians’s Pilgrimage in Search of God in America was with us and read from his wonderful book. I was struck by a number of things, but one...

Brazenly, Chicagoan’s are seeing some incumbent politicians attempting to put their self interest ahead of voters on important decisions about zoning, permits, signage, traffic and the distribution of neighborhood improvement funds to the tune of $66 million. According to attorney Ted Wrobleski, who serves as First Vice President of the Sheffield Neighborhood Association (SNA),...

John 5:1-9 After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. 3In these lay many invalids — blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5One man was there who had been ill...