by Elaine Olsen | Jun 28, 2016 | creation, family fun, fellowship with God, grace, joy, knowing God, parenting, peace, thanksgiving, worship
These are days of plenty. This is a season of more-than-enough. This is holy generosity dispensed to me by the King. This isn’t a season of less-than, although as of late I have been tempted to argue otherwise: • Aging parents and accumulating needs making their...
by Elaine Olsen | May 19, 2016 | faith, theology
It’s been a tough ten days for United Methodists across the globe. What … you haven’t heard? You mean you haven’t been glued to the live-streaming drama taking place out in Portland, Oregon, known as General Conference? Who needs Jerry Springer when you can watch a...
by Elaine Olsen | Mar 20, 2016 | Easter
Palm Sunday. I’ve been picking up palm fronds at the backs of many sanctuaries I’ve called home for nearly fifty years. The processions and procedures vary. No church does it the same; not all pageantry is created equal. Sometimes the children process with the palms....
by Elaine Olsen | Jan 9, 2016 | fellowship with God, God's Word, holiness, living God's truth, words
Words. Spoken. Written. Thought. Some beautiful. Some bitter. And others, somewhere in between. All words? Powerful. Why? Because they are attached to the heart. “ … For out of the overflow of his heart, his mouth speaks.” –Luke 6:45 The words that grow in our hearts,...
by Elaine Olsen | Dec 5, 2015 | God's Word, knowing God, Lessons from the Lunchroom, Scripture
“He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken” –Isaiah 53:8 Their words brought a chill to my bones, while at the same time...
