God Knows We Can’t Help Ourselves By Beth Demme Maybe it’s my American-ness or maybe it’s just my personality, but I kind of like the expression, God helps those who help themselves. I like it because I believe I know how to help myself, at least a little. It’s as if I can obligate God to be on my side …
Jesus Is Authority and Mystery
Jesus Is Authority and Mystery By Beth Demme Jesus is an interesting mix of authority and mystery. In Mark 1:21-28, Jesus is teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath and people are “’astounded” at his authority. Jesus is there at the synagogue with a small group of disciples who also responded to his authority. Just a few verses earlier they were fishermen. …
The Problem With God’s Grace
God’s Grace Problem By Beth Demme If we were playing a game of word association and I said “Jonah,” chances are good that you would say “whale.” When it comes to Jonah, we tend to get wrapped up in questions about if, how, and why Jonah spent three days in the belly of a fish. But really, Jonah is a …
Why Renewal Is My Word for 2018
My Word for 2018: Renewal By Beth Demme My word for 2018 is renewal. Re-new-all. Make everything new again, or at least as much as I can. Some people complain that the world today is the worst and that things back then were better somehow. I get it. At times it’s easy to see the bad and hard to see …
The Problem With Knowledge
The Problem With Knowledge By Beth Demme The last sigh of the Christmas season has evaporated. Have you put away all of your Christmas decorations? Is the tree un-decorated and hauled to the street (or put in storage)? Have the Christmas lights been removed and the Christmas blow-ups deflated? What about your Nativity? Have you wrapped each piece carefully and …
The Irony of A Too Busy Advent
The Irony of a Too Busy Advent By Beth Demme I read a prayer the other day that has really stayed with me: “As water is restless until it reaches its level, so the soul has not peace until it rests in God.” It’s by Sundar Singh and if you happen to be a United Methodist you can find it …
Why I Don’t Believe God Is Harsh
Why I Don’t Believe God Is Harsh By Beth Demme If you had to describe God in only one word, what word would you choose? Go ahead, say it out loud. I’m waiting. Seriously, I’m listening. Go ahead and say it. Ooooh, good word! (I mean, probably. You probably chose a good word. I can’t actually hear you.) I worry …
Bible Beware
Bible Beware By Beth Demme It’s tempting. Really, it is. It’s tempting to read the Bible thru a lens of “we’re in, they’re out.” When it comes to faith, too many of us have been fed a steady diet of us v. them. We have developed an almost insatiable need to be sure we are “in,” compelling us to identify …
The Problem With Loving God
The Problem With Loving God By Beth Demme In the Gospel of Matthew, a lawyer (one of my people!) asks Jesus “which commandment is the greatest?” Jesus responds: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment.” (Matthew 22:34-38) Did you …
Bad Borrower?
Am I A Bad Borrower? By Beth Demme When I was in elementary school, maybe third grade, I borrowed a book from the school librarian. Not from the school library (these days known as a “Media Center”), but from the librarian herself, Mrs. Whaley. Every Christmas she read The Cajun Night Before Christmas to us and I L‑O-V-E-D it. I …