It’s Sunday morning and the faithful have gathered. My body is here at Hometown Friends Church, but my mind and emotions are not 100% engaged. I’m trying to get a clear picture of “joy.” Perhaps my view is so tainted by a modern cultural view of joy that I can’t reach far enough to understand what the Apostle Paul is saying. My best guess is that the scripture today from Galatians 4 and 5 is telling me that joy increases as I decrease the amount I sweat the small stuff.

It’s Sunday morning and the faithful have gathered. A couple of minutes ago the pastor asked us to think of someone who is different than me. And now people have just shared a good array of differences they pictured. The thing conspicuous by its absence is economic status. I was picturing a homeless man as someone different than me. But I didn’t say anything when we were given the opportunity and others who were looking across the economic divide also remained silent. I’m not sure what to make of this silence when the difference between the “haves” and the “have nots” is a significant scar on our planet.

It’s Sunday morning and the faithful have gathered. We are looking at Galatians 2:19–3:6. It has something to do with living by the law or living by the Spirit. I’m hearing the word mystical this morning and now I’m wondering if you have to be just a little bit crazy to be really religious. Since Christianity is much more than subscribing to lists of things I can or can’t do, how far does that move us toward the irrational? I’m wondering how many of the divides (i.e., abortion, gay rights) are driven by the “law” instead of “spirit.”

It’s Sunday morning and the faithful have gathered. I’m looking to my left to spot Joel Perez. I expect he’s there even though he’s not in my line of sight right now. He and Robin Baker were referenced in Steve Duin’s column this morning. I’m thinking the way Robin, Joel and others responded to the recent incident on the local university campus was dynamic Christian proclamation. And I’m remembering that what we do between the Sundays is more important than what is going to happen here in the next 60 minutes.