6-19-26 - Family Values

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here. 

I am amused when “family values” are equated with a 1950s two-parent nuclear unit, as though that were a perfect reflection of Christian virtue. In fact, Jesus disregarded his own mother publicly when she showed up with his brothers to quiet him down and bring him home. He also said, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”

For those who would follow Jesus, family is not blood kin, but the community of fellow Christ-followers. Loving God comes first, no matter what. As a pastor frequently frustrated when the claims of nuclear family impede involvement in church family, I read those words with a certain grumpiness. Sigh! It’s been a hard week in Water Daily Land, trying to interpret one hard teaching about priorities after another. Putting Jesus first is more counter-cultural all the time. Our culture says family comes first, no matter what. And we are much more formed by our culture than by what Jesus taught.

You may be familiar with the Jesus Doll, a rag doll with brown hair and a beard, a tunic, coat and sandals. He's soft and squishable and great for kids. In a previous parish, we let kids bring Jesus the Doll home for a week. They were encouraged to take Jesus everywhere they went, and to write in the journal that accompanied him. Where did Jesus go this week? Gymnastics? The swimming pool? Walking the dog? Fishing? Kids loved it. Mothers found it more wearing.

“Oh my God,” one said, “It’s unbelievably stressful having Jesus! I was afraid the dog would eat his sandals, or him. I was afraid we’d leave him somewhere!” Another, unable to get Jesus back to us for several weeks, wrote an apologetic email. She’d been sick, the kids had been sick, her husband had been away on business, Jewish friends visited, so they put him away; some other things happened… she concluded, “It just wasn’t a good week to have the Son of God at our house!”

News flash: it’s never a good week to have the Son of God at our house! Life is a whole lot easier with the priorities the world presents us: “Take what you want, when you want it, with whom you want it.” Chances are, if you’re reading this, you have already decided that is not your choice. Maybe you’ve entered the relationship into which Jesus invites you, or you are curious and exploring it. Maybe you’ve already discovered what Christians have known for 2000 years, that life is infinitely richer – though no less painful – when we are aware of having the Son of God around our house.

Jesus did not come to make us feel better about our lives. Jesus came to draw us closer in the one relationship we will have for eternity, in intimacy with God. Starting that relationship here and now makes our lives more purposeful – and often more stressful. “Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it,” Jesus says at the end of this teaching.

• What are some of the ways Jesus’ claims have caused you to “lose your life,” or at least to give up some patterns that felt easy but were not life-giving?
• What are some of the ways you resist putting God in first place in your life?
• Who or what would have to be moved to second or third? 
• Can you offer that to God in prayer, inviting the Spirit in?

The gift – which we can only discover by doing it – is that when we move God-life into first place, we engage our other priorities more fully, because we don’t try to own them. We appreciate them as gifts, and can stop ranking them. Maybe that’s what Jesus means by “finding our life…”

© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.

6-18-26 - Jesus' Sword

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.

I wonder if Jesus knew how much carnage would be wrought in his name because of these words attributed to the Prince of Peace, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Would he have said them? Did he say them? By the time Matthew wrote his account of Jesus’ life, these words would have passed through quite a few reporters. Maybe they got skewed? How I wish they had never been written down.

So much blood has been shed between Christians and Jews, Christians and Muslims, Christians and indigenous peoples, Christians and other Christians. There have been crusades and counter-crusades, attacks and massacres, reprisals and counter-reprisals. Rivers of blood have flowed as corrupt politicians hungry for land, oil, power, vengeance and money have joined with zealots to cloak their murderous agendas in religious language. There is enough violent rhetoric in the scriptures of many religions, including our own, to fuel endless bloodshed.

And Jesus isn’t even talking about conflict between enemies but in families. He goes on to say, “For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.” What?

I believe Jesus was saying that conflict would be an inevitable consequence of following him in his mission. Jesus came to wield God’s love in the face of this world's evils, injustice and oppression, corruption and complacency. That does not make for a peaceful life. Those whose mission is peace often provoke conflict and die violently.

Notice, Jesus did not say, “I have come not to bring peace, but violence.” He said, “not peace but a sword." Look at some of the other ways “sword” is used in the New Testament: The sword of the Spirit is one of the defensive weapons we take up against the devil. In Hebrews we read that the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, “…dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow …” That is surgically sharp!

The sword Jesus refers to can be a sword of discernment, distinguishing good from evil, what will bless us and make us effective as disciples from what will harm us and make us complacent and weak. He is saying there is evil in the world, and his followers need to be ready to distinguish the Kingdom of Light from the realm of darkness. Sometimes that does divide families.

Jesus demands our fidelity over all other claims. The priorities of this world – family, wealth, convenience, success, distraction – do not make us effective disciples. Jesus is just calling it. We can be fuzzy, or we can be clear. Jesus came not to bring peace but reality and radical freedom to move in God’s Spirit.

• Have you ever had to make a choice to disassociate from people or practices that were destructive for you?
• Do you face such dilemmas in your life now? 
• Might we ask for the Spirit's help to marry “mission clarity” with our calling to be peacemakers?

Jesus paid the ultimate price for his mission, at least in worldly terms. In eternal terms, he was just getting started.

© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.

6-17-26 - Is Our Faith Public?

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.

We are often judged by the company we keep. Are we willing to let the world know we hang out with Jesus? He lays it on the line in this week's passage. After telling his disciples to go forward boldly, proclaiming the good news, healing the sick, he says, "Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.”

It’s hard when Jesus raises the stakes like that. Where’s the mercy? It seems, from things he is recorded as having said in the gospels, that Jesus was short on mercy for religious insiders who refused to accept the good news of “God-With-Us” that he had revealed to them. His mercy ran more freely to outsiders or underdogs than to his own peers. It is unsurprising that people in need would more readily accept Jesus’ revelation of his messiahship than the “insiders” who were so sure they knew what God would look and act like. And Jesus cuts the insiders no slack.

Jesus is not in a “slack-cutting” mode in this training talk. He knew time was short; that those who said “Lord, Lord” really had to stand by their allegiance to him, and not go quiet when the association proved inconvenient or dangerous. Would he go any easier on us?

Some years ago I read the The Tenth Parallel, by Eliza Griswold, on clashes between Christianity and Islam in Muslim and Christian communities in Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. In Malaysia she met an indigenous Orang Asli who was a convert to Christianity (many Orang Asli are trying hard to hold on to their traditional beliefs and practices under threat of extinction, but some do convert). Christians and other religious minorities suffer harsh persecution in Malaysia, which has a vigorously conservative and oppressive Muslim majority.

This pastor said to her, "Americans don’t care what’s happening in other places, do they?," a sentiment she also encountered among persecuted Christians elsewhere. "He pondered aloud if need kept people closer to God and God closer to them,” she writes, and then quotes him: “I wonder, is there a place for God’s word in the lives of people who have everything?’”

It’s a good question. In my privileged segment of Christendom, proclamation of Jesus Christ as Lord is often muted; to some, saying “Jesus” smacks of fundamentalism. Some Anglicans are hostile to the word evangelism, as though there were only one (obnoxious) way to share faith. Others are happy to be affiliated with Jesus – in church on Sundays – but reluctant to let that be known in the circles they travel the rest of the week.

Are we willing to be public about our affiliation with Jesus, the Christ; to acknowledge his Lordship in our lives? Does it make us uncomfortable? Is Jesus, and proclaiming wholeness and peace in his name, important enough to us?

We sit under the judgment of Jesus’ words as well as the promises they contain. What is the place for God’s word in the lives of people who have everything?

© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.

6-16-26 - Splitting Hairs

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.

“Have no fear of them,” Jesus says, as he tells his followers of the enemies they may encounter on God’s mission. “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

So, God knows the number of hairs on our heads (what if you're bald?) and values us even more than precious sparrows. That does not mean God promises us physical protection. (Read Psalm 79 sometime, and remember that most of the people to whom Jesus was speaking died a martyr’s death.) It may mean simply that we are of infinite value to God, whose love for us is not diminished by our physical death.

It is a hard balance we seek as followers of the One who promised eternal life: to live fully in this life, loving its gifts and pursuing God’s mission in the world, while holding this life lightly, knowing it is not our final destination. People who have had near-death experiences often say they no longer fear death. And it is the fear of death that so often holds us back from fully living our lives.

Jesus is not minimizing the trauma of physical death, I don’t think. He is inviting us to weigh that against the greater trauma of spiritual death, apathy or even allegiance to that enemy who seeks to degrade and destroy God's creatures. If fear of death, or fear of losing income or time or reputation keeps us from giving our hearts to God, we place ourselves in spiritual peril. Following Jesus does not mean that nothing else in our lives matters; it means we gradually allow ourselves to put God first, above every other thing and person who claims our love. It’s not either-or; it’s both-and… and in the order of priority. God comes first.

And if God comes first, it lowers the stakes for everything else. We can be more confident taking risks when we value our God-Life more than our physical life. Not caring so much about our physical existence – while still investing in it; I did say it was a balancing act – sets us free to discover who we most fully are, how exquisitely and uniquely we are made. Rather than seeing Jesus’ words as warning, might we take them as invitation to greater freedom?

Today let's examine what holds us back from making God our number one priority, if God is not. What fears impede our proclaiming our allegiance to God in Christ?

If we can name our fears, we can invite the Holy Spirit to transform them into freedom. “Perfect love casts out fear” is a promise we are given in scripture. Wherever we feel fear, we might invite God to sow love… envision the place of your fear and see God planting a seed of love in that spot.

Then we can sit with the sparrows and watch our fear wither like a weed and the love grow strong and beautiful, knowing that God is keeping an eye on us... and counting the hairs on our heads, however few or many there may be.

© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.

6-15-26 - The Un-Prosperity Gospel

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.

Would you have gone on this mission if Jesus asked you? His words to his followers as he sends them out to proclaim the good news and heal the sick are full of warnings about unwelcoming communities, hostile audiences and even persecution. He says the challenges he encountered would also come to those who went forth in his name – master and disciple are equal in the sight of detractors: “If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!”

It’s a wonder any of them went. Would facing danger for proclaiming Christ embolden us – or send us into hiding?

Some preachers build huge congregations and rake in loads of cash promising prosperity and good fortune for those who put Jesus first – often defined as making large donations to the pastor’s ministry. I sometimes wonder if they’re right; their churches sure seem blessed. Then I remember Jesus never promised anything but love and an odd kind of joy amidst adversity in this life, and an eternity of relationship in the next. And he promised his presence with us throughout, no matter what.

That is where I suggest we rest this week as we read through another challenging passage: by opening ourselves to Jesus’ presence. That is where all ministry in his name begins – being filled with his Spirit.

Today, let’s take a few minutes to sit quietly, offering thanks for the gifts of the week past, repentance for our failures to demonstrate love, and naming those things that worry us about the week to come. And then let’s pray, “Come, Lord Jesus” (an ancient formulation is “Maranatha!”). And wait. See how Jesus draws near, or what comes up in you as you sit in stillness.

The prosperity preachers are right about one thing: cultivating an expectation of blessing yields blessing. God’s “yes” comes in many forms, not only material wealth. As we are open to it, look for it, name it, we will experience it more often, and tell what we’ve experienced. And then, whether we’re in the midst of wolves or sleepy sheep, we can proclaim our good news, “The Life of God has come near to you!”

© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.

6-12-26 - Are We Disciples of Jesus Christ?

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.

Our gospel reading this week has Jesus sending his new disciples out on their first mission trip – to go to all the towns and villages he will visit, proclaim the good news that God is near, and heal the sick. Oh yeah, and cast out demons and raise the dead, as needed. And don’t take any baggage or money – just rely on the hospitality you find. If you’re not welcomed, hit the road and find some place that wants you. And if you get arrested or worse, don’t worry – God will be with you and tell you what to say.

How do we interpret these instructions in our day? Some Christ-followers take these words at face value and go out to share the Good News of God’s love. But more of us stay home, busy with work and family. Our “going in the name of Christ” mostly means going to church and maybe engaging in volunteer activities there or for other organizations whose values align with ours. Few of us are out blazing new trails, telling our stories, healing the sick. What do we do with these instructions for Jesus’ road warriors when we’re not out there and may have no intention of altering our priorities?

Let's start with the call to proclaim Good News. If we don’t know what’s good about this Good News, we don’t have much of a message to share. Jesus said the Good News was about freedom, release, forgiveness, healing, the inbreaking of God’s life into this world. Where have you experienced those things in your spiritual life? What stories flow from those experiences? With whom might you share those stories?

Then there’s the “doing” part – healing, raising, releasing, forgiving: 

• Where and when in your life do you offer those ministries that Jesus said were integral to living the Good News? 
• Is there anyone with whom you pray for healing? 
• Anyone who you remind of their status as beloved no matter what they’ve done or said, or not done or said? 
• Are there dead places you’ve helped bring God’s Life to? Any that are calling to you now? 

These are the “what’s” – proclaiming the Realm of God, healing the sick. Jesus also talked a lot about the “how” and the “how not.” Most notably he said not to take any resources with us, to rely solely on provision from God and from the people among whom we go. That is probably the most challenging part of Jesus’ teaching for me and folks I know. I don’t see us untethering ourselves from our financial and emotional security systems anytime soon. Are we any good at all to Jesus, or to the people who need to hear of his love?

Might we find small ways to do this, trying to get to know our neighbors or people around us who have acute needs, not offering gifts or advice, but simply as people, building relationships that can lead to community, and seeing where the Spirit takes us?

The harvest is still plentiful, and the laborers are still few. Folks around us are still harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus doesn’t ask us to go to them out of guilt, but out of excitement at the joy of being his followers, and anticipating blessings. Are we his disciples?

© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.

6-11-26 - Wise As Serpents

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.

Adversity is part of the deal when we become ministers of the Gospel, especially when we invite people to re-examine long-standing beliefs and traditions. Jesus uses a potent image to warn his disciples about the challenges they will face as they proceed: “See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles.”

The “wolves” for Jesus' disciples in this scenario are fellow Jews, in particular religious leaders benefiting from the status quo. Jesus knew they would oppose him and put obstacles in the way of his followers. He suggests meeting such opposition with a tricky balance of cunning and transparency.

It’s not so hard to fathom what it means to be “innocent as doves” – it means to have an agenda of peace and goodwill, be straightforward about your message and your aim. If we think of sharing our faith or introducing people to Christ as we’ve come to know him, it means being clear that this is part of who we are. If we’re sincere about building relationships AND about letting our spiritual selves be part of the encounter, we’re being innocent as doves.

Jesus’ exhortation to be “wise as serpents” is harder to parse. Where does being canny morph into cunning? Let's consider what attributes of serpents we might adopt as we move out in mission. One is their ability to move quickly and nimbly and with great flexibility. They are low to the ground, able to get where they need to be without drawing a lot of attention to themselves. So we might show up at opportune moments, and maneuver with grace around those who would shut us up or tell us to leave our religion out of it. We might be alert to opportunities to share our spiritual lives and quick about seizing those moments where appropriate.

Jesus was telling his followers that there would be resistance to their ministry which might well harden into persecution – and that no matter what, God would be with them, speaking his message through them: "When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you."

I doubt we need worry about being handed over to councils and flogged. We might be more apt to encounter resistance in the form of indifference or social pressure not to be “so religious." Whatever happens, Jesus’ counsel to be both winsome and wise, gentle and canny is as apt for us as it was for his disciples. We have a story to tell, an invitation to offer, an introduction to make – let’s not let anything stop us from making Jesus' love known.

© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.