Inés is an ordained pastor, preacher, reconciler, writer, and speaker. We are pleased to feature Inés as a regular Life for Leaders writer.
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The Dry Place
The struggle for power: Where does real power come from? Under whose authority is Jesus operating?
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Did Jesus have to go back to these deep waters of baptism and submerge himself in the waters of God’s love whenever he questioned his own leadership abilities? Did he ever feel discouraged about them?
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Advent: Abuela Ruth – Part II
When Ruth and Naomi return to Judah, the stars align and Ruth pursues Boaz, who is a kinsman redeemer. Ruth takes some risks and she and Boaz eventually come together as husband and wife. The seed of the Messiah is inside Ruth without her knowing even before she arrives in Judah. Her brave steps secure the steps of Obed, Jesse, David, and eventually Jesus. She did not know she was carrying a king of an everlasting kingdom inside her womb. She did not know that she was building the house of God. In fact, she probably never saw the harvest of her healing as a widow. She never saw the fulfillment of the prophecies about the long-awaited Messiah. She waited and she worked, she hoped and she loved.
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Advent: Abuela Ruth – Part I
As I read Ruth’s words, which have been used in modern times as wedding vows, what I see is the _hesed_ love of God overflowing to Naomi through Ruth. The seed of the Messiah is inside her without her knowing. Her steps secure the steps of Obed, Jesse, David and Jesus. Ruth is a carrier of the covenantal love of God because no human can say these words and keep them, apart from God’s grace. I love that these vows of love occur in the context of friendship, which means we all have access to this kind of friendship love. I love that Ruth sees past Naomi’s bitter and valid grief as if she is saying: “Listen, I’m not going anywhere.”
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Latinx Heritage Month II: Our Messiah was a Migrant
Our Messiah was a migrant and so were his people. He was shaped by the rituals of remembrance that recalled those deportations and the pain and trials that accompanied them. He was shaped by hearing about those ancestors who stood steadfast in the face of fear and violent dictators. He was shaped by the _hesed_ love of God to a people time and time again. Grief and grace shaped our Messiah. If you want to see God on the move, see the people that are on the move. The migration stories of his ancestors and his very own birth story were a means of God’s grace.
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Latinx Heritage Month I: Raíces // Roots
When I study Jesus’ genealogy, I am fascinated by the Spirit’s careful detail through the gospel writer to tell us the names of Jesus’ ancestors. Each name is a story grounded in place, in land, in languages, and in peoples. From the prophetic disruption and inclusion of women’s names that were not traditionally included in genealogies all the way to forced migration, Jesus’ story has scandal and sassy protagonists. His story includes land displacement and multiple languages as much as rootedness and identity.
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Life in the Spirit II: What Jesus Smells Like
Paul declares that Christ has his own fragrance. He goes on to say that we help spread in every place the aroma of Christ to those who are being saved and those who are perishing. The problem is that historically the church of God has stood in controversy and contradiction when our stench does not align with the aroma of Christ. Ask any Old Testament prophet. Ask Isaiah whom God used to reject their burnt offerings because their worship had the stench of injustice.
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Life in the Spirit I: A Living Letter
Paul states that his listeners are letters. Living letters. Letters from Christ. So it is with you. Your life is a living letter and it is being read by others in this daily and ordinary life. Not only that, but Paul states that the Spirit is the ink. I imagine a dynamic and catalytic Spirit engaged in our lives and calling. I love the idea of an active spirit that is always moving in every page and chapter of our lives. What an encouragement it is to be co-creating a story with God’s own Spirit and our very lives!
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The Song of Miriam – II
In the full song of Moses and Miriam, we see their declaration that the Lord was their strength and their salvation. This was their father’s God and their mother’s god. Their tia’s and abuelita’s God. A God of old who calls and guides, loves, and sustains our work and our role in it.
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The Song of Miriam – I
Miriam was around 85 years old before they crossed over the Red Sea. Yet she had been living into her vocation of prophetess since she was a young girl. If you remember, she secured Moses’ rescue with her mother Jochebed and convinced Pharaoh’s daughter to disobey her father’s orders and to take her baby brother into the palace. God did not undermine Miriam’s youth in order to use her calling and develop her voice as a prophetess.
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Follow Me
Suddenly sometimes strange happens in the text. Peter asks, “What about him, though?” He points to the disciple whom Jesus loved following behind. I always thought it odd that he would ask and I still cannot be quite sure why he does so. However, I am always moved by Jesus’ persistent redirection: Peter, follow me. Stay in your lane. Don’t compare yourself. Keep your eyes on me. Not on him.
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Silent Stones?
The Pharisees have angst over the crowd’s energy and proclamations about Jesus. They demand that Jesus rebuke his disciples. Were they afraid? Nervous? What were they afraid of? Helmut Thielicke says: “There are really only two ways to take a thing seriously. Either you renounce it or you risk everything for it.”
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Courage is Calling—Part II
Courage stands firm in the dignity of her humanity. Courage stands in solidarity on behalf of other bodies, in this case, the Canaanite woman’s daughter. Courage risks rejection. She was in fact, rejected twice in this conversation. However, her courage was repetitive and persistent.
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Courage is Calling—Part I
This Canaanite mother believes in the identity and authority of Jesus over disease and demons. She places trust in his authority, in his person, in his powers. We don’t know how she came to believe in him, but her courage came to believe. She binds her courage to Christ. She brings her courage to bring wholeness and healing for her daughter.
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Advent: Honest Revelation
The same God who sets the galaxies into motions sustains your life in motion. The same God who created the skies orchestrates the stars in the sky just to come get you. May you know, like the Magi, that you aren’t lost in this season. You are looking. May you follow in their steps of ordinary revelation: to wake up, to watch and to walk. Every morning. Every night. May you know God is in your holy night and in this holy darkness. A benevolent (not malevolent) darkness where the darker the sky, the brighter the stars shine to show you the way.
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