Imagine The Odd Scene Here At The End Of Our Reading Full fishing boats, but the owners have left it all behind to go “fishing.” It’s a paradox; an oddity; kind of like a boat & fishing gear in a chancel. We might ask ourselves, what compelled them so powerfully? To Many Of Us, Following…
In The Words Of Ron Burgundy: “Boy, That Escalated Quickly.” What a fast transition from amazement to rage. They went from speaking well of Jesus to attempting to murder him. Does it seem unclear why there’s such a rapid and dramatic change? When The Crowd Turned Into A Mob, & Why They Turned. They identified…
One Of A Few Core Passages To My Ministry Jesus reading from Isaiah seems like he is declaring a mission statement. I have, therefore, taken it as a personal ministry mission statement. It May Not Be Expected & It Sure Seems Daunting It seems like a “Mission: Impossible”, which got me to thinking Did the…
A Dream, An Image, & A Body I Have A Dream – A United Humanity Martin Luther King Jr’s 90th birthday weekend MLK, Barbara Walters, & Anne Frank would all be the same age today. Born 1929. A dream of united humanity accepted as diverse individuals I have a dream that my four little children…
Humanity Understood & Related To God Poorly Ever since The Fall, humanity has suffered under the curse of sin Ever since The Fall, humanity has struggled to reconnect with God Our will gave consent to our desire to deviate from God’s good, and the whole of creation was broken in function & relationship to God…
What Even Is Epiphany (I keep spelling it EPHiphany?) Epiphany: the manifestation of Christ (the Messiah) to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi (Matthew 2:1–12) Epiphany: a moment of sudden revelation or insight The moment of revelation of Jesus to the Gentiles, the entire world, and his human life was the greatest moment of…
Not Your Typical Joyful Christmas Greeting You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? … Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. You’re probably not going to…
Preparing For A New Family Member An experience of joy last summer led us to seek out joy We had to prepare for the arrival of this new family member When the unexpected arose, our preparations left us ready for joy How Have You Prepared For Joy? Christmas can be such a joyful season. Many…
None Of Your Relatives Has This Name How about Vladimir? I asked. You’re not Russian, she replied. Isn’t the process of naming your children interesting? Do you have family traditions in naming? Reminded of Joe Jr. Elizabeth had a similar problem. No relatives named John. Notice how many people are involved in the process of…
I Struggled Feeling I’m The Wrong Person To Speak This In our last Luke reading, Gabriel shut the mouth of the priest. In these readings two women (Elizabeth & Mary) become prophets. God is breaking his 400 years of silence in a way most people missed. God’s Voice Was Silent Because Of The Religious &…