God So Loved the World The New Testament is a collection of twenty-seven different writings. It contains biography, history, theology, philosophy, ethics, poetry, prophesy, and even some economics. But, first and foremost, it is a love letter – God’s love letter to God’s children. Our Gospel reading for today gives us that letter in condensed […]
A Two-Way Street A pastor once told me about a time that he was talking with an agnostic, one who doesn’t believe because it cannot be proven that God exists. The gentleman said to this pastor that he didn’t believe in God. The pastor turned to him and asked: “then what are you going to […]
A View from the Mountain It starts off ordinary enough. Jesus and the three closest of his friends: Peter, James and John. Together they are going up on a high mountain. Nothing strange about that, either. Jesus often went up on a hillside to pray – and to rest. And, I’m sure that’s what the […]
Trina came running into the house – all excited. She was a little chatter box and she had been to Sunday School that morning with some of her friends. They had baked some cookies a Trina came running into the house – all excited. She was a little chatter box and she had been to […]
Serving a God of Change The conditions that Christians face today beckon the church beyond a “business as usual” posture and into a “missionary posture” – a genuinely missionary engagement with the modern world, and for us, a western culture that that is increasingly resistant to the gospel. We stand today like Jonah facing Nineveh, […]
When the Lord Speaks, Listen! Today’s story from the Old Testament (1 Samuel 3:1-10) is one of those masterful stories of our faith! It is the Lord’s call to the boy, Samuel! Many of you remember this story from your own childhood. The little boy Samuel, living with the old priest Eli. Samuel had a […]
Appearance and Reality One of the decisions that every good story teller has to make is: when to tell the story’s secret. Every story has a secret, and the spinner of tales must decide whether to let the hearers know about the secret early in the story – or whether to surprise them at the […]
And the Word Became Flesh! A fisherman fell off a fishing pier one time – and was about to go under. Another fisherman nearby, hearing his cry for help, shouted to him: “How can I help you? What can I do?” The drowning man shouted back: “For heaven’s sake, give me something to hold on […]
Let It Be So! “The Lord is with you!” What an incredible statement! “The Lord is with you.” Great statesmen, great soldiers, people in high places everywhere have yearned to hear those words. Indeed, many may have thought that they had heard it, that Yahweh had heard their pleas and was prepared to bless their plans […]
God, history and community … but what an outfit! Words that could describe John the Baptist as he strides into the opening scene of the Gospel of Mark. He stands there before us with his tumbleweed hairdo, draped in camel-hair skins, popping honey-dipped locusts into his mouth, and howling like the desert wind in his […]