Children, Palm Sunday and a Donkey

Each Palm Sunday, our children and whole congregation have a wonderful celebration, cheering Jesus on with shouts of "Hosanna!"

This year though, I wondered if we were called, as a congregation, to get the donkey...

Holy and Humans (Lent V)

We humans are called to be Holy. Yet we are human. The Bible is Holy. Yet clearly human. What gives? How can be both holy and human? What does Paul's first letter to the church in Corinth have to do with all of this?

Prophetic Challenge

To help us understand the prophetic section of the Bible, we are looking at the call of Isaiah, found in chapter 6. It begins with the death of King Uzziah. Who cares? What does this mean? Beginning with this intro, we discover the three challenges to reading the prophets: The challenge of the mind, of the heart and finally of the spirit.

David and Nathan

We continue "opening the word" by looking at a story in the "History" section of the Bible. In this part of the Bible people do lots of dumb things. This is a problem for God, who has promised to be faithful. How do we deal with stories of human sin and God's anger? Can we find mercy in them? To help us, we look at the story of David and Nathan...

10 Commandments (Lent I)

This Lent, we are spending each week looking at a different section of the Bible. This week we are looking at the Torah (sometimes called "Pentateuch"), the first five books of the Old Testament. Lots of Sunday stories come from this section of the Bible, but adults readers don't often go here for a variety of reasons. One of the most important stories in this part of the Bible is the giving of the 10 commandments. So what do these old -- very old -- laws say about God and humanity? Three key words: Relationship, relevance and repentance.

The Other Nine

Jesus invites three disciples up to a mountain, where he is “transfigured” or “transformed.” He becomes dazzling white, while he speaks with Moses and Elijah. God’s voice bellows through the clouds, “This is my son, with whom I am well pleased.” Yet, what about the other nine disciples? Weren’t they faithful disciples too? Why does God chose these three to reveal his glory?

Based on Matthew 17.

Sermon on the Mount V: Don't Worry

Today we conclude our series on the Sermon on the Mount. He does so with a surprising ending: "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today."

We hear in these words some good and simple advice: Live in the present. More deeply, Jesus is doing what he has done the entire Sermon on the Mount: Inviting into the Kingdom of God.