I am not a believer in the notion of God “showing up.” Sometimes, when things go extraordinarily well, one can be tempted to attribute success to the attendance of the Almighty. Annie Dillard says, “Beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will or sense them. The least we can do is try to be there.” I believe not only that beauty and grace are OF God, but that God is ever-present and it is our responsibility to show up. I don’t consider myself to be gifted in that regard, and the details of life, no matter how [...]

This year’s first sermon series was about weathering the storms in our lives. One of the elements that resonated deeply with me is how we are not meant to handle these storms alone. God wants us to lean on him and each other in order to draw strength and persevere. We know this intellectually, but it is hard to completely understand its application in our lives until you are in the midst of your own storm. For us, the storm was literal when our single-story ranch style home in Meyerland flooded with Hurricane Harvey. St. Luke’s and The [...]

What personally inspired you to pen Unafraid? As I began exploring scripture, I found that over 140 times the Bible addresses fear — it is a major theme in scripture. Again and again, God tells his people, “Don’t be afraid!” This became the impetus for the book. I ended up surveying the congregation to see what their fears were, and I read everything I could get my hands on about fear. The book was the result of this study. What is the first step in not allowing our fears to paralyze us? In the book, I speak of [...]

Val Dean and Jack Read joined St. Luke’s in 1954 and have been faithful supporters of every minister who has served at St. Luke’s. For 64 years they have “given themselves away in generosity and service!” Jack, who is a native Houstonian, has served St. Luke’s as a Boy Scout leader, usher, member of the Board of Stewards and Houston Project committees, Habitat for Humanity volunteer, and UMCOR hurricane relief volunteer. For years he has been part of the woodshop team where members craft as many as 10,000 toys for non-profits each year. Jack also serves in the prayer [...]

For much of his life, Luciano Hernández has faced the constant threat of financial insecurity. Saving and planning for the future of his family—his wife Irma and five children—seemed out of reach. But in recent years, Luciano has found hope and opportunity in his community of Coatecas Altas in Oaxaca, a southern state in Mexico. He says “My life has changed a lot. I started working at age 12. When I got married and had children, I emigrated to find work so that I could feed them. I came back to get my wife and children and take [...]

The winter Olympics are in full swing, and one of the most notable names on Team USA is snowboarder Chloe Kim. When asked about the pressure placed upon athletes competing in the games, the 17-year-old simply stated, “I don’t really think about it as pressure. Pressure is a byproduct of expectations, and expectations mean that people believe in you.” Only a few days later, Kim would go on to win the gold medal in the snowboard halfpipe, but not before tweeting “Wish I finished my breakfast sandwich but my stubborn self decided not to and now I’m getting hangry.” [...]

“Addiction” is often used to refer to abuse of substances, but it can also include other behaviors such as: gambling, eating, video games, sexual obsessions, working, religiosity, codependency patterns, etc. Some experts define it as, “Anything one does excessively for the purpose of avoiding a thought or emotion.” Addiction is a cycle of use, recovery, and relapse and involves dependence in three key areas: physiological, psychological, and emotional. To break the cycle, all three of these areas must be addressed.  The physiological component of addiction is explained well through a concept often heard in recovery programs: “It is not [...]

Guilt and shame are two incredibly powerful emotions. Often used interchangeably, guilt is specific to regret regarding an action or decision. However, in the words of Brené Brown, shame is “an intensely painful feeling or experience of believing we are flawed and therefore unworthy of acceptance and belonging.”  Guilt is about something we’ve done; shame is about who we are. Sometimes, these emotions arise due to an action, decision or belief of our own. Other times, these emotions come up based on the words or actions of those around us. An important practice with these emotions is separating the [...]

Illness is, almost without exception, a struggle that is common to all of us. Whether chronic or acute, through personal experience or that of a loved one, temporary or terminal, it is challenging to imagine any life completely untouched by illness. And that feature of this struggle makes another feature of it so confounding: illness can often be utterly isolating. It can feel as though it separates a person from family, friends, and even themselves. It can lead to scary, existential questions, messy legal fights, and complicated logistical realities that challenge even strong family units. Through all of this, [...]

Grief is something everyone experiences at some point. Having tools to grieve and mourn allows us to focus on the experience of the loss, find new courage and hope to survive the pain, and move forward in time. Loss thrusts upon us disappointments we did not choose, but also opportunities we did not imagine. Loss challenges our basic assumption about ourselves and our future while at the same time, loss forces us to re-structure our lives. It is important to realize losses can be more than death of a loved one and include: loss of people you love, pets, [...]