Stephen Bond

Good evening to the mostly full moon seen through the maze of bare tree branches that fragment its light like panes of stained glass windows into the cathedral that is the world that God loves…

The Object of Our Faith--October 6, 2025 The Object of Our Faith--October 6, 2025 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" The Lord replied, "If you had faith the size o...

Jesus doesn't offer Jedi training in how to use your faith to levitate shrubberies on a whim, because that's not how faith works. Faith's power depends entirely on the object of our faith--that is, the One in whom we place our trust.

beinggraced.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-...

This weekend’s project: Christ of New Creation.

Good morning to the locust leaves casting shadows on the ground in all their shades of yellow and gold as another day unfolds in the world that God loves…

I’m not telling what my just-finished Halloween costume for this year is, but I’ll say this: it’s NOT a bear.

“So the rules for the duel are agreed upon: having stood back to back, each holiday personification will take ten paces, then turn, and on the count of three, each shall commercialize with all their fury!”

Good morning to the tops of the neighbor’s pine trees caught and inverted by a dewdrop clinging to the top of a leaf as the sun rises on another day in this part of the world that God loves…

Note Left by Humanity in the Ruins after Heaney Sometimes we gave water to our neighbors. Sometimes we didn't hunt each other. Sometimes our fathers weren't broken and told to kiss their homes that would be stolen. Sometimes there was bread and wine on the tables and sometimes we remembered there was no such thing as someone else's mother; there was no such thing as someone else's child. Sometimes there were hearts that we could hear. Listen. We forgot that we could listen. Sometimes, when the fires died, it was dark enough. We walked out and we looked up and we saw it: the starlight, the starlight that had made us. Sometimes no one lay in any rubble with seven braids in her hair— a braid for every year she'd had. A braid for every year. —Joseph Fasano

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Beautiful. Thank you for sharing this.

Where the Paper Clips Don't Go--October 3, 2025 Where the Paper Clips Don't Go--October 3, 2025 "As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set the...

Our well-being is connected. Those drowning in "stuff" need to be brought to life by sharing what was never meant to be hoarded forever. And those drowning in the world's indifference need to be brought to life by receiving what God intends us to share.

beinggraced.blogspot.com/2025/10/wher...

Good day to the roses blooming still outside the hospital greeting me on my way through the world that God loves…

Good morning to the line of fog below the varied colors of the eastern sky as a new day begins in this part of the world that God loves…

The first Bow Tie Thursday of October…

Good evening to the bees resting for a moment on the open face of a sunflower on display in the church prairie meadow, noticed for a moment before I head to the next adventure in the world that God loves…

Christ the Convict--October 2, 2025 Christ the Convict--October 2, 2025 "In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before ...

The heart of God's mission to mend the world means God's own choice to be pushed out to the margins, stripped of respectability, and to surrender all glory and pomp as a convicted criminal on a cross.

beinggraced.blogspot.com/2025/10/chri...

Elegy, Autumn
a poem for September 30, 2025

Scandalously Satisfied--October 1, 2025 Scandalously Satisfied--October 1, 2025 "Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment, for we brought nothing into ...

We'll be a minority report in a world drowning in acquisitiveness. We will look like weirdos, outliers, and folks on the countercultural fringe, because we are no longer driven to seek more-for-the-sake-of-more, but find joy in appreciating what we have.

beinggraced.blogspot.com/2025/09/scan...

YouTube video by Stephen Bond Faithful Rebels 04 10 02 25 Fiery Furnace

Courage can be contagious--when there is someone else being brave, we can find ourselves encouraged, too, even when it's standing up to the Empire of the day. The story of the Three Young Men in the fiery furnace is another case study for us in how to be faithful rebels.

youtu.be/89zvEBdlyjg

Episode 451: Profiles in Courage, Part Six--Le Chambon

Hey friends!
A new week means a new episode of our weekly podcast, "Crazy Faith Talk"! Listen in here for another "profile in courage" from church history!

open.spotify.com/episode/6q83...

Good morning to the moth waiting at the church door, who has found a place of refuge here for a while before heading off into the world that God loves…

Good afternoon to the white rose still resisting the arrival of fall in these late days of September, giving themselves to the work of adding their brightness against the encroaching darkness of autumn’s onset in this part of the world that God loves…

What Breaks God's Heart--September 30, 2025 What Breaks God's Heart--September 30, 2025  "Woe to those who are at ease in Zion   and for those who feel secure on Mount Samaria.   Woe t...

The Big Deals of Amos' day tried to keep the troubles of others at arms' length, in the hopes that they wouldn't have to care about people they couldn't see. The prophet invites us to risk compassion again, rather than numbness. That is a risk worth taking.

beinggraced.blogspot.com/2025/09/what...

Word for the Week:
(drawn from Luke 17:5-10)

When we are done seeking approval and gold stars from others, we are free to serve with joy.

#WordForTheWeek

YouTube video by Stephen Bond Looking Ahead 10 05 25

What if we didn't have to be constantly seeking approval, credit, or attention in our lives... because we knew deep down that we belong and have a place in the household of God forever? What if we were freed, finally, just to do what God has called us to do?

youtu.be/h8jt_n2WlcI

Unsettled by Jesus--September 29, 2025 Unsettled by Jesus--September 29, 2025 [Jesus said:] "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuou...

We've all become numb, both to the needs of our neighbors on the margins and to our unavoidable calling to love those neighbors, and Jesus has come to make our apathy wrong again--or rather to remind us that it was never God's will for us in the first place.

beinggraced.blogspot.com/2025/09/unse...

Good morning to the dark sky before dawn, in which Orion can be seen keeping watch over the world that God loves…

From tonight’s reading in Larry Hurtado’s “Destroyer of the gods”:

“Christianity did not become successful through Constantine giving it imperial approval. Instead, Constantine adopted Christianity likely because it had already become so successful despite earlier efforts to destroy the movement.”

Good evening to the sedum blossoms reaching out their five-pointed blooms like a galaxy of stars to my eye here in the world that God loves…

Note to Self:
Whenever we pray using the words Jesus gave us,
we speak them as an alternative to the powers of the day,
not their tool or empty slogan.

Let us pray in the words Jesus gave us.

Good morning to the geese making a u-turn over my head to make a water landing before their itinerary takes them to other places in the world that God loves…