I can remember as a child, sometimes on Sunday after church my dad would pile us all into the car and we would go for a drive. I do not know if the destination was planned but we would often end up at the home of a relative or family friend. One of those destinations was my mother’s school-friend. She and her husband were building their own home. It never seemed to be done.
Read MoreThe shopping for presents, the traveling to Grandma’s house, gathering together for meals, and the football. Actually, none of that makes for a normal Christmas, at least not if you use that first Christmas as a guide.
Read MoreThere are so many things that vie for our attention. Especially in this time. We realize that in two days it will be December. And we all know what December brings – great expectations. There are presents to buy, another meal around which to gather our families, trips to plan, all with the uncertainty of our time.
Read MoreWe are allowed to practice our religion without government interference. We have the opposite problem from the Jews under Antiochus and the early Christians. Since we can practice our faith as we wish we tend to forget about God.
Read MoreIn fact many of the signs they point to are the work of human hands and greed. We are the ones who make war. We are the ones who have wreaked havoc on our climate, not God.
Read MoreJust like Lazarus, Jesus is standing outside the tomb of our lives calling for us to, “Come out.” Our tomb is a many-structured thing made up of our own doing and random events which meet us in the everyday happenstance of life. We are bound by our own sin and death. To us Jesus calls.
Read MoreLuther knew that and reminds us that we are the same. We are, at the same time, sinner and saint. Sometimes we do not know if our actions are God’s will or not. Usually we do, and when we act as we desire, we often delude ourselves into believing we are doing what is right.
Read MoreWe note that this text repeats a common theme in the salvation literature (if we may call it that) of the Old Testament. That theme is one of a journey home. It is a proclamation that God will gather all the people of Israel and bring them home. Especially the blind and lame, those with child, and those in labor. Hmm, the ones for whom a journey will be most difficult?
Read MoreThis fourth song is also considered by many scholars to be the basis for the Apostle’s creed. That creed was developed very early in the church and might possibly even predate some of the New Testament books.
Read MoreThe people rejected him and his message and drove him away because they had deluded themselves that their prosperity was a sign that God approved of their lives and how they treated others. We do know how that is.
Read MoreSome Christian churches take them [the texts about marriage] to the fullest possible understanding in the modern sense – birth control is wrong as well as divorce, and in divorce, leads to excommunication. This use is the opposite of what the texts really mean. The Genesis text is about a gift. God’s gift of life, the world, and human community.
Read MoreThe story is not about how the Israelites lacked the things needed for life. It is about their dissatisfaction with the things that they had. What God gave them was never enough. They complained about being in slavery in Egypt and God rescued them. Once rescued they complained about how hard the journey was to the promised land. Now they are complaining because they do not have the cucumbers and fish they had there. The people were starting to believe that their freedom was all for nothing because it did not go the way they desired.
Read MoreHaving a conversation with God does not mean getting your own way. It is how you learn what God is calling you to do. It does not mean asking for the things you want. Listen to James, “You do not have because you do not ask. You do not receive because you ask wrongly in order to spend on your pleasures.”
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This does not absolve us of the terrible things that we have done to his world or prevent terrible things from happening to us. Instead it calls us to live by faith, work to right the wrongs we have committed, and help others when chaos meets their lives.
Read MoreThe people who had lost everything, who were held in captivity, were starting to fall away from the covenant and taking up the customs and religion of their captors. Life was probably much easier that way. God sent Isaiah to this weary and tired people who were ready to give up.
Read MoreWhile our society has bought the lie that the only person we need to worry about is ourself and that we can do whatever we desire without having any concern about anyone else, as a quick look at television advertisements or the anti-vaccination movement shows. It seems that was one of the problems in the community to which the book of James was written.
Read MoreHis point is that the Pharisees and scribes were following the law for the wrong purpose. They were using the law to set themselves apart from everyone else as the true followers of God. Which is the opposite of what our text from Deuteronomy called them to do.
Read MoreAnother theme in the Bible is that being God’s people is not always easy. In fact it often is a struggle. I can give you a long list of people that expected things to be easy because they were Christians and those who, when trouble and chaos occur in their lives, expect God to clear it away and make things easy.
Read MoreWith books being expensive before Gutenberg, most people could not read or could only read a little. Luther taught the scriptures and theology by song. He would often choose a tune that everyone knew and write words to it. If he wrote the tune he would make it simple and rhythmic.
Read MoreIf God was able to consume the altar and all that was on it, could God not protect him? The answer is, “Yes.” But Elijah, just like us, was all too human. He was capable of great things when he did not let his fears and self-doubt get in the way.
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