Posts from November 2014
Holding hope.
Holding hope is a practice we are called to work on every day as followers of Jesus. Right now, we hold hope for the community of Ferguson, Missouri, and for all of us even as we feel the deep pain and suffering of racial inequality. Once again white privilege takes hold of the justice system and the deep gulf between the police and those who are policed is exposed. This gulf has been formed over generations of discrimination and by…
Toward Sunday
This week we begin the season of Advent. Advent is the time in which the church waits for the mystery of Christmas to be born. Sometimes we talk about this as waiting for “the light to illumine the dark.” As I write this the light is fading in the sky outside of the church and the clouds are illumined from beneath by the setting sun. Darkness is coming soon. Darkness is often feared rather than welcomed. But what if there…
Toward Sunday
Searching scripture is one of the ways we stay in love with God. To this end, we continue this week with our study of the writings attributed to John from the New Testament. We focused our first two weeks on the Gospel of John and the Letters of John. We will conclude our three-week series this Sunday with reflection on the Revelation of John. Outline of Worship Series. November 9, 2014 Gospel of John (John 3.16) November 16, 2014 Letters…
God’s love
We never get beyond God’s love for us in Christ and how that is lived out in love for one another. We are always drawn back to that central, and centering, claim. We know God’s love, first and foremost, through knowing Jesus; and we know God’s love because we have witnessed it in love for one another. 1 John 7 may serve as a reminder that we never grow beyond our need to hear again the gospel of God’s love…
Toward Sunday
Searching scripture is one of the ways we stay in love with God. To this end, we continue this week with our study of the writings attributed to John from the New Testament. We focused on the Gospel of John in worship last Sunday and we turn to the the Letters of John this week. We will conclude this three-week series with reflection on the Revelation of John. Outline of Worship Series. November 9, 2014 Gospel of John (John 3.16)…
Mot Juste
The Gospel of John is written in a different fashion than the others. Below is a quote from Frederick Buechner (Peculiar Treasures, a bibilical who’s who. p83) to ponder as you go through your day and in preparation for our new worship series on John. “Jesus, for John, is the Jesus he knew in his own heart and the one he believed everybody else could know too it they only kept their hearts open. He is Jesus as the Word that…
Toward Sunday
Searching scripture is one of the ways we stay in love with God. To this end, we will study the writings attributed to John from the New Testament over the next three weeks in worship. We will begin with the Gospel of John, then turn to the the Letters of John, and conclude with reflection on the Revelation of John. Outline of Worship Series. November 9, 2014 Gospel of John (John 3.16) November 16, 2014 Letters of John (1 John…