Pastor Paul Dazet

The next era of church leadership will not be built by experts
but by people who have suffered,
who know how to stay present in pain,
who can hold space without fixing.
Wounded healers aren’t a liability.
Wounded healers are the future.

Strength isn’t the absence of weakness.
Strength is refusing to hide your weakness
because you know it’s the place others will find permission to breathe.
Your vulnerability may be someone’s lifeline.

“The Word of God is Jesus Christ. I believe that the Word of God is inspired, infallible, and inerrant. And when he was about eighteen years old, he grew a beard.”

— A More Christlike Word: Reading Scripture the Emmaus Way by @bradleyjersak.bsky.social

Jesus doesn’t correct God’s character.
Jesus corrects our imagination of God’s character.
The incarnation is God saying:
“You’ve misunderstood Me. Let Me show you My face.”

Shame may scare us into behavior change,
but it never forms Christ in us.
Only love transforms.
Only love roots us in who we really are.

Jesus doesn’t say “change, then you’re loved.”

He says, “You’re loved — now walk with me.”

Transformation is downstream from belovedness.

Always.

We’ve misunderstood spiritual warfare by turning it into spectacle.

But Jesus reveals its true shape:

Washing feet
Forgiving sinners
Touching lepers
Blessing children
Welcoming outsiders

Love is how evil loses its power.

Before the blind see,
Before the lame walk,
Before the dead rise,
Jesus does something even more miraculous —
He gives people a place at the table.

Belonging isn’t the result of healing.
Belonging is where healing begins.

God doesn’t erase your wounds.

God transforms them into signs of solidarity.

Even Jesus kept his scars.

Some days, it feels like I’m still holding my breath—waiting, wondering if the Spirit will show up.

Pentecost reminds us: She does. Even here. Even now.

A centering prayer for weary hearts:
For When You’re Still Holding Your Breath
pauldazet.substack.com/p/for-when-y...

The four horsemen aren’t waiting for the end.
They’ve always been riding.
Revelation reveals the truth about now—
And invites us to live another way.

🕊️ Read: When the Four Horsemen Ride (And They Always Do) tinyurl.com/2t39yam6

Everyone Is Doing the Best They Can And when we really believe that, everything changes.

Everyone Is Doing the Best They Can

The Garden in the City Revelation 21:10; 21:22–22:5 | Sixth Sunday of Easter

The Garden in the City

For When You Need to Know You’re Not Alone A Centering Prayer Inspired by Easter 6C: John 14:23–29, Revelation 21:10, 22–22:5, Acts 16:9–15, Psalm 67

For When You Need to Know You’re Not Alone

The Bible Didn’t Lead Me to God—God Led Me to the Bible My Damascus Road and the Wind That Still Blows

The Bible Didn’t Lead Me to God—God Led Me to the Bible

For When Grace Needs to Flow Again A Centering Prayer Inspired by Psalm 67

For When Grace Needs to Flow Again

Love Will Ruin You (In the Best Way) What great love and great suffering teach us about God

Love Will Ruin You (In the Best Way)

For When the Way Forward Isn’t Clear A Centering Prayer Inspired by Acts 16:9–15

For When the Way Forward Isn’t Clear

THE ANTI-GREED GOSPEL: Chapter 6 (Learning in Public) Chapter 6 - Love or Violence

THE ANTI-GREED GOSPEL: Chapter 6 (Learning in Public)

A Tender Church Responding to Suffering with Love

A Tender Church

For When You Fear the Gate Is Closed A Centering Prayer Inspired by Revelation 21:10, 22–22:5

For When You Fear the Gate Is Closed

The Myths of Forgiveness Letting go of what forgiveness isn’t, so we can live into what it truly is

The Myths of Forgiveness

For When the News Is Hard and Peace Feels Far A Centering Prayer Inspired by John 14:23-29

For When the News Is Hard and Peace Feels Far

The Church Hustle How the church creates a treadmill that exhausts disciples instead of forming them into Love

The Church Hustle

Lectionary Readings: Sunday May 25, 2025 Intersections for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C

Lectionary Readings: Sunday May 25, 2025

Resurrection in Motion Intersections for Easter 6c

Resurrection in Motion

Psalm 67 The Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C

Psalm 67

Acts 16:9–15 The Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C

Acts 16:9–15

Revelation 21:10, 22–22:5 The Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C

Revelation 21:10, 22–22:5

John 14:23–29 The Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C

John 14:23–29