We looked at the oddity of life: being human AND made in the image of God, called a child of God. We heard reflections of the fallibility of our human focus and the ability to either ignore or simply miss God’s interaction with us in community. While it seems odd to hear these stories just […]
We celebrate our journey in this Easter season and consider how our life and the practice of the Christian church has changed on this side of Easter. Scripture paints many pictures of how that first and second century church practiced its faith. Some traits to consider: unity of focus, community empowerment, all are welcome – […]
As we bring the Easter season to a close we listened to God’s and Jesus’ prayer for humanity and believers: that we will experience God’s glory and be united in God. As we reflect on the call from God we might wonder how to be united – especially given our (necessary) diversity. Jesus gives us […]
In worship, the tone of the readings showed much of the “other side” of the Christian story: persecution, being placed on trial, having to make a defense (with reverence and gentleness), and the need for an advocate (Paraclete). Yet we heard the truth, that God continues to walk with us and guide us when we […]
Our worship and scripture was a picture painted by psalmist, Luke, Peter, and John that describes what makes believers special. They all spoke about the trust we have been given about God’s faithfulness through everything and how that impacts our lives right now. We head them all tell about the identity we have in Christ […]
In worship, our scripture continued the discussion about the founding of the church and how our our practice of worship, fellowship, teaching, and communion helps us share the peace and serenity of Jesus. Today the image from the gospel was not the “standard” – we heard about Jesus as the gate: the one who marks […]
Today, the journey in Eastertide continues. We had a passage from 1 Peter laid against/near one of the Psalms the Jews read during Passover. Odd to see a solemn, thought provoking song about the coming change in Israel’s past looking at Peter’s commentary about the ransom paid in Jesus’ death. A question we can ask […]
Scripture today points us to God’s plan and God’s interaction with us in that plan. God doesn’t simply act in a vacuum but works humanity into the plan. But it’s not simply a fait accompli but a relationship that allows us to ask for clarification and insights so that we might really understand the complexity […]