Tim Graves

What if?


What if following Jesus isn’t about the big things? What if it is about the small things we do: kindness, forgiving, smiling and laughing, listening, and even self-care? What if it isn’t about professional ministry or earning a living but about a way of life lived in humble service? What if this service lacks vestments and collars or professional titles but is marked by our giving of ourselves emotionally, physically, and spiritually? What if the barely noticed, little things we do out of love are what God calls us toward? 


 What if it is in each of these moments we allow God to speak through us? What if this is truly following Jesus, the One who took the very breath of God (1) into himself, and breathed it out into a broken world? What if we can be the very breath of God?

It could change the world.


…and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. 
Genesis 1:2a RSV
Read this in context.

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(1) Robert Alter, The Five Books of Moses, Kindle Book edition, loc. 994. Robert Alter translates the Hebrew rua  as breath. It is variously translated as wind, spirit, and breath.

Published by Tim Graves

Tim is a runner, a hiker, a devoted husband, a father of two adult children, and their spouses, and a grandfather of four perfect children. A former early childhood educator, Tim is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He has served as pastor of both Disciples and United Church of Christ congregations. As we enter what we hope is the final phase of the pandemic, Tim is beginning a journey of rediscovering himself and discerning next steps. He writes from his home in Albany, Oregon and wherever the Spirit lures him.

One comment

  1. Your best blog entry so far, in my opinion. You have articulated what we are trying to do at New Song. Rua has always been as close as the person next to us. Thanks, Tim, for sharing your thoughts with all of us.

    Reply

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