Midweek Faith Lift
April 15, 2026
“An Abundance of Life”
Rev. Deb Hill-Davis
Spiritual Passages
April 7, 2026
Our Return to the Moon
The Forces Behind Every Great Journey
When humanity points itself toward the Moon, it is never just about space flight. Artemis II, which launched this past Wednesday, is NASA’s first crewed mission to return to the Moon, carrying four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft on a journey around the Moon and back to Earth. Yet, for all the engineering and precision, this mission is still powered by something much older than science: curiosity and courage.
Curiosity is where all exploration begins. It is the spark in a child staring up at the night sky. It is the human instinct to ask, “What’s out there? What else is possible?” But curiosity alone does not get anyone to the Moon. It also takes courage.
As Tony Dokoupil of CBS News said, “What fuels it all, besides all that liquid hydrogen, are those human virtues of curiosity and courage.” He spoke of the children watching Artemis, just as earlier generations once watched Mercury, Apollo, and the shuttle launches. But he also emphasized that spaceflight always carries risk, and that may be the deeper invitation of Artemis to all of us. Most of us will never soar through space, but all of us will face moments that ask, “Will you stay where it is safe, or will you follow where life is calling you?” Every great journey begins with a question, and the courage to follow it.
"Let your curiosity be greater than your fear." - Pema Chodron
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” - Helen Keller
Affirmative Prayer for today: Infinite Spirit of Life, we embrace our human/divine Life with a resurrection consciousness. We call forth the power within us to do so with an abundance of curiosity and courage as we learn what it really means to follow you. Amen.
This is the week after Holy Week and in many ways, it is as important as the Easter story itself. The men and women who were in the intimate circle of followers of Jesus begin to adjust to life without his physical presence. There are stories in all 4 Gospels of Jesus “appearing” to his disciples and followers. In these stories, they sense and feel his Presence, his energy and very slowly begin to wake up to the greater Reality that Jesus had constantly spoken about. As their very real fears began to subside, it was possible for them to actually become curious and perhaps courageous in taking up the cross and following him and acting on all that he had taught them. They had failed miserably to do that during the last week of his human life. Even Peter refused to admit he knew Jesus and he was the leader of the group!
What we know from all the stories is that during the last week of his life his closest friends, his most loyal followers did not have the courage to stay the course and be with him, except for the women. To openly follow Jesus was to take a huge risk that you too, might be arrested and crucified by the Romans, especially at the time of Passover. For the women, it was less of a risk, but still required courage to visit the tomb and admit to following Jesus.
What is of significance and importance for us is what Jesus tells his disciples to do in the weeks before his last week on earth. He starts talking a lot about his impending crucifixion. In Matthew 16: 24-26, he tells them to also take up their cross:
The Cross and Self-Denial
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? (NRSV-UE)
Jesus is telling them and us that courage and curiosity are the true path to a resurrected life, a Life beyond what our only human life offers us. And he goes on to predict his crucifixion and suffering and death. It is, as he demonstrates, in losing one’s life to the risk of realizing a higher consciousness, one will find Life, a greater life. There is no other way. He is pretty clear about that.
This is the legacy we have from the life, suffering and death of Jesus. We, too, lean into what it means to take up our cross, and then, as we move through those experiences, we expand into the spiritual power of Life, or as Charles Fillmore called it, “a resurrection consciousness.” As Rev. Scott Awbrey writes,
The wonder of the Easter drama is not only in the suffering on the cross, but in what came after - when Mary Magdalene was drawn to the tomb by grief, holy love, and curiosity, only to discover that what seemed like an ending was not the end at all. And when the disciples, still shaken and uncertain, found the courage to carry the Christ message further across the land." - Scott Awbrey, Spiritual Passages
We are truly called to take risks for we cannot move beyond our fears without taking a risk. We cannot grow beyond our current challenges and circumstances without taking a risk and following love.
Remember the story of the guy with the 10” frying pan and the 13” fish? That is a message of hope, and risk, even as it challenges us to come up higher and keep the bigger dream! Hope is a funny thing as a human emotion, because it happens in the face of challenge, danger and risk. It is those circumstances that call forth hope, the hope things will get better, that moves us into taking action and risk. We cultivate both curiosity and the awareness that we can be a part of bringing about what is better. What we are running from is not real. The world we run toward is right here, right now. Mark Nepo says it like this:
. "Like a frightened man in a burning boat has only one way to the rest of his life, we must move with courage through the wall of flame into the greater sea." - Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening
We hold fast to hope, courage and curiosity to move through the wall of flame into the greater sea, and our resurrected consciousness assures us that we will make it! We will find our way to joy!
It is critically important to remember that Jesus also offered us the energy and experience of joy, which is sometimes difficult to embrace in the midst of seeming darkness and great challenge, such as the times we are in today
John 15:10-11
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. (NRSV-UE)
Again, the message is that to abide in love is to abide in joy, even when it is not easy, even when it involves risk, sometimes really big risk.
A week or so ago, something landed in my email inbox from Jim Trenberth. It is by the author Louise Penny, who writes:
I had a conversation the other day with my great friend Allida. I was, as often happens these days, bemoaning the state of the world. In danger of spiralling down and taking her with me, Allida suddenly said, 'We can't let what's happening eat our joy.'
That stopped me cold. Not with a verbal slap, or cold bucket of water in the face. But with an embrace.
Joy.
Which isn't to say we turn a blind eye or become insensitive to the terrible events, the suffering and madness. Just that we not let it define our days, our lives.
Joy is a revolutionary act. An act of rebellion.
And so I share Allida's caution, her wisdom, and that of others, with you today. And as a loving reminder to myself.
Richard Rohr, in his April 5, 2026 blog, “The Hope of Resurrection” writes this:
What the resurrection reveals more than anything else is that love is stronger than death. Jesus walks the way of death with love, and what it becomes is not death but life. Surprise of surprises! It doesn’t fit any logical explanation. Yet this is the mystery: that nothing dies forever, and that all that has died will be reborn in love.
So, to be a Christian is to be inevitably and forever a person of hope. God in Christ is saying this is what will last: My life and my love will always and forever have the final word.
And finally,
"All who joy would win must share it. Happiness was born a Twin."
- Lord Byron
May our joy be shared and may it be complete!
Blessings and love,
Rev. Deb