God made our world and ourselves for one reason: so that we may live lives of love filled with peace and justice.
Read MoreThe members of the church started to rank God’s gifts to boost their individual self-image, claiming that one gift is more important than another. Paul disagrees with them telling the Corinthians that their lives were built by God. Their identity came from Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection not the gifts God had given them. Those gifts were to be shared.
Read MoreIf we are not careful, anger and hurt can take over our lives and prevent us from living the way God desires. We can allow our hurt to take hold in our families, among our friends, in our neighborhood, and, like the Corinthians, in our church.
Read MoreBy talking about being born from above as John, or about adoption as Paul, we are reminded that it is God who initiates this relationship. In fact this has always been true.
Read MoreIn our brief text from Romans today it seems that Paul is addressing the age-old question of why do God’s people suffer. The Christians in Rome were no different. After becoming Christians their lives had not changed for them. Why was God not answering their prayers?
Read MoreAll of the first Christians spent their time proclaiming the good news of Jesus. No one stood out but the few because everyone worked together. As the community grew there were more diverse roles for the members of the community.
Read MoreMost scholars begin by understanding the water as a reference to baptism and the blood to the atoning death of Jesus. But which baptism, Jesus’ or ours? Does the blood represent Jesus' death or is it in reference to the blood of Jesus in the Eucharistic meal? Or is the answer all of the above?
Read MoreYou are not the vine, you are the branches.
Read MoreAs I have said before, the community was important to those early Christians. There was no social safety net. Life was hard and if tragedy happened there was no one around to help, but with a community of believers there was.
Read MoreThat is where the early Christians had the advantage. They were already the laughing stock of their neighbors. Why would anyone follow someone who died on the cross – belittled and humiliated? Actually that may be what attracted those first Christians.
Read MoreChrist is risen, alleluia!
Read MoreBut, in the end, Jesus answered God’s call to serve others in need and now calls us to do the same. It is because Jesus answered God’s call that we are able to do the same.
Read MoreThe gift from God is to be able to live in a community where we share all of our lives, from the joys to the sorrows.
Read MoreGod does not set up an obstacle course for you to run to see if you are good enough to be God’s children. Neither does God give you a list of things that you must do in order to be raised from the dead. God has already provided for you by giving His son Jesus for you.
Read MoreTake some extra time this week to ponder your life. Look at what God has given you and pray that you can use God’s gifts to make the world and the lives of those around you better.
Read MorePaul talks about faith as an inheritance. Which reminds us that it is a gift given to us even though we do not deserve it. This can make it difficult to comprehend and sometimes difficult to accept.
Read MoreIt is as if God has turned the world upside down. Instead of being rewarded for obeying, we are able to obey because we have received our reward.
This is certainly a strange way to get people to do what you would like them to do. We usually don't pay someone the whole price of some work that they are going to do for us before the work is finished. We all have heard stories like that. It just goes against human behavior. Yet God does it for us.
Read MoreI suppose that is in part because change is not something any of us really want. But mostly the fear of the unknown can dominate our decision making process and allows us to convince ourselves to not act…
Paul did not accept those excuses.
Read MoreIt is not that the gospel is veiled, you are just wearing the dark glasses of desire. Those glasses, like sun-glasses, keep Jesus from shining into your lives.
Read MoreHe is reminding us here that it is the message that is important, not how someone looks or what they believe. Instead, we are called to give up our prejudices and open our lives to God.
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