“…I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers…” Ephesian 1:16 (ESV)

As a church, we are reading through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, and it is amazing to read about the apostle’s awe of God and what God has done for us as a sinful, rebellious people. In verses 3-14, Paul simply marvels at the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit and the spiritual blessings we have received from them. Paul then goes on to share his prayer to the Father about the Ephesians, and indirectly ourselves, modeling how we ought to pray for others.

Paul begins by giving thanks for the Ephesians, thanks for their faith in Jesus and their love of others who follow Jesus. Even as...

In October 2016, the Town of Taos received $500,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds to work with a local developer to renovate the Hotel Don Fernando, whose former owners had lost the business through foreclosure.

The midtown hotel had become a hub of illegal activity and vandalism: too expensive for the developer to single-handedly bring up to code but too visible a blight on the town’s main thoroughfare for town officials to ignore and a waste of potential gross receipts revenue for the tourism-dependent town.

The Town of Taos became fiscal agent for the U.S. Housing and Urban Development funds, and the developer matched that money, reopening the 30-year-old, 126-room...

In the United States and other countries today, many cities publish newspapers in various languages for racial and ethnic groups. Reading news stories written by journalists, reporters, and columnists from your own background gives an opportunity to view events through your own cultural lens.

Black Americans, Black Canadians, Black British, Afro-Caribbean/African, Afro-Arab, Afro-Iranians, Afro Turks, Afro-Dutch, Afro-Spaniards, Afro-Russian, Afro-Mexicans, Afro-Brazilians, African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem—not an exhaustive listing. In dominate Australia, Blacks are regarded as Aboriginal. As Roberta Sykes, a prominent Black activist surmised, “‘Black’ is inclusive of...

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places …” Ephesians 1:3 (ESV)

Paul begins with exuberant praise for the God who saved him from his sins, whom he serves. Reading through verses 3-14, it becomes clear this God of whom he speaks and glorifies is God the Father, God the Son (Jesus the Christ) and the Holy Spirit. He doesn’t attempt to explain the ‘Trinity’ as we have come to know it; Paul simply, extravagantly shares about the Father who initiated our salvation before creation, Jesus who executed the plan, and the Holy Spirit who continues the work of Jesus.

In the verse above...