Why Youth Still Want to Believe

Last updated on: October 22, 2025 at 6:49 pm By Rob Giannamore

Reflections on Working with Youth: Challenges and Insights Recently, my kids have displayed renewed interest in their faith. My 22-year-old, my 20-year-old and my 16-year-old have all asked for new bibles over the last few years and it is encouraging to see them express a renewed interest in their faith. As a pastor, I never pushed what they should believe and with the chaos of being in the church, I did not necessarily push them or my wife to attend the churches I served- there often was a lot... Read more

Attention as an Element of Spiritual Discipline

Last updated on: October 17, 2025 at 2:53 pm By Rob Giannamore

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Introduction In my last post, I talked about darkness. In this post, I want to focus on what lights our path and what we give our attention to. Attention helps us to really know God. Not the knowing of a prescribed faith, but the knowingness of the insistent presence of God. Here, I want to explore how focus illuminates our spiritual path Attention in Spirituality The practice of giving attention is related to the practice of being present. It is a specific way of being present. It is what you do when you... Read more

Considering Darkness as a Spiritual Practice

Last updated on: October 15, 2025 at 11:36 am By Rob Giannamore

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I still remember my first night run when I was running ultra marathons. I was training for a 100k and was running a 27-mile loop at the park I always train at. Never running in the dark with a head lamp was spooky to say the least. Watching the day animals go to their roosts for the evening and the night animals coming out of their day roosts, the forest was alive with activity. The most memorable scene was running along the... Read more

Rethinking Retributive Justice

Last updated on: October 12, 2025 at 8:55 am By Rob Giannamore

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Introduction From modern politics to ancient theologies, humans have used retributive justice as a means to solving problems. But does retributive justice actual accomplish anything? In this post, I want to explore these two concepts, the psychology behind the two and suggest a better path forward. In America particularly, we are currently watching our political regime go after both the “enemy within” and political enemies. We are sending National Guard to cities and prosecuting people on questionable charges. Does it really work? Will any of this “Make America... Read more

Empathy, Compassion, and Unity

Last updated on: October 9, 2025 at 8:20 am By Rob Giannamore

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Empathy, Compassion, and Unity: Lessons from the Wesley’s for Our Polarized World An Exploration of Practical Faith in Turbulent Times Anchor verse – 1 Corinthians 13: 1-8 Introduction I have spent the last few weeks discussing perspectives around the current geopolitical and faith crises we are observing all around us. As we observe daily in the media sources, the world is increasingly polarized, and truth has become a subjective experience that is hard to nail down. A message urging people to recognize... Read more

Jesus Preaches in the Echo of Amos

Last updated on: October 1, 2025 at 11:25 am By Rob Giannamore

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Anchor verse: Amos 6:1a, 4-7 Introduction Amos was featured in the lectionary readings recently and as I was engaging in lectio, I could not help noticing how Jesus picked up Amos’ words. Intrigued, I looked a little deeper and found that Amos and Jesus both emphasized social justice, calling out the injustices and moral failures of their societies. While Amos warned of impending judgment for Israel’s sins, Jesus preached love, repentance, and the coming of the Kingdom of God, highlighting the need for compassion and mercy towards... Read more

The Cruciform Example Amid Widespread Allegiance to Caesar

Last updated on: September 27, 2025 at 7:16 am By Rob Giannamore

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In the ongoing discussion about how we ought to posture ourselves during this very strange time in our American history, I want this week to counter the loudest voices as to how we should be Christian today. I want to show that what we are seeing is not a Christianity understood by our grandparents or even the Christianity of our founding parents. Instead, it is a mix of poor theology, nationalistic political ideology and a capitalization of the scarcity mindset.... Read more

Theologies of Hope Amid Americas Violent Tendencies

Last updated on: September 21, 2025 at 8:55 am By Rob Giannamore

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Theologies of Hope Amid America’s Violent Tendencies Exploring Spiritual Perspectives, Cognitive Dissonance, and Thinking Errors in Shaping Our Views Anchor Scripture verse: 1 Peter 1:3 Introduction In my last post, I wrote about how change is hard. It has been a hard couple of years as a therapist and trained pastor. I field so many questions about how things are going to go, why people are doing what they do and how do we move forward. I don’t have all... Read more

The Spiritual Practice of Embracing Impermanence

Last updated on: September 17, 2025 at 11:14 am By Rob Giannamore

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Summer has slowly faded into fall up here in Northwest Pennsylvania. The kids went back to school a couple of weeks ago and the Albion Fair recently commenced. Earlier in September, I did two charity bike rides in grape country, and the grapes were graping, the familiar smell of concord grapes in the warm September sun filled the air. In the human journey of becoming, we all go through seasons of change. This week, I want to reflect... Read more

Jesus’ Compassion Toward His Oppressor

Last updated on: September 13, 2025 at 3:44 pm By Rob Giannamore

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How Jesus Demonstrates Powerful Love for Enemies Introduction Another series of senseless shootings have filled our American airwaves this week as another school was shot up and a prominent religious figure was assassinated. Instead of coming together in a moment of compassion and support, our two-party system is pointing fingers and blaming each other. While we think this all new to us, or even worse, that it cannot happen to us, we simply forget where we have been. I am... Read more

In which miracle did Jesus provide wine at a wedding?