Sprinkled across the Gospels are scenes that all play out with similar plots. In the presence of his closest friends and followers – the Twelve Apostles, Jesus does something extraordinary. He cures the sick; he cleanses the unclean; he raises the dead. What for Jesus is the stuff of daily ministry understandably leaves the ApostlesContinue reading “Spotting Jesus”
Tag Archives: resurrection
You Don’t Know Jack
Thanks to the likes of Mother Goose, everyone knows the nursery rhyme by heart: Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water.Jack fell down and broke his crown, and Jill came tumbling after. But wait, there’s more! Up Jack got and home did trot as fast as he could caper;AndContinue reading “You Don’t Know Jack”
A Spiritual Health Check-up
If you, like me, attended public school between 1966 and 2012, then you likely remember sweating, grunting, and groaning through the Presidential Physical Fitness Test — A grueling, gym-class ordeal that demanded sit-ups, pull-ups, a long-distance run, and several other selected feats of pubescent strength and agility. For the athletically inclined it was a chanceContinue reading “A Spiritual Health Check-up”
The Covenant: An Invitation into Lent
The 40-day season of Lent – a time of prayer, reflection, fasting, and repentance – leads up to Easter’s celebration of Jesus’s resurrection. According to the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the desert wilderness before beginning his public ministry. During his wilderness time, Jesus endured and fought offContinue reading “The Covenant: An Invitation into Lent”
Surprise, Surprise, Surprise
Children see the world differently. For a toddler, a caterpillar is a miracle. For a kindergartener, a tall pine is a modern marvel. For any kid wearing galoshes, water is as much for joy as it is for survival. Then, somewhere in our childhood – in adolescence, maybe – peer pressure mounts to outgrow suchContinue reading “Surprise, Surprise, Surprise”
No Other Gods before Me
Over the years, I’ve preached sermon series on any number of themes, but for no reason in particular, the one topic I haven’t touched in depth is the Ten Commandments. So, for the next 10-or-so weeks, we’re going to be unpacking that list of do’s and don’ts – given by God to Moses, aContinue reading “No Other Gods before Me”
At Our Best
Some of the Bible’s most intriguing and inspiring stories describe events or phenomena that are exceptional and unprecedented. In those-remarkable-but-rare instances, God’s Holy Spirit in Christ is uniquely present, and like a match set to a pack of firecrackers, the Spirit sparks a chain reaction of explosions that inspire awe and wonder. This morning’s ScriptureContinue reading “At Our Best”
‘Those Days’ Are Now ‘These Days’
Oddly enough, the Old Testament book of Joel hatches from an infestation of insects – more specifically, a swarm of locusts so efficiently devastating the countryside of Israel that famine and starvation are very real possibilities. By Joel’s reckoning, the buzzing disaster swarms large in divine judgment upon the Lord’s sinful people, who eventually getContinue reading “‘Those Days’ Are Now ‘These Days’”
Many Gifts, Common Good
The more things change, the more they stay the same – or so goes the clichéd formula. But you’d think followers of Jesus, empowered as we are by the promise of God’s Holy Spirit in Christ, would enjoy immunity from such apathy and inaction. After all, the flagship of Presbyterian faith anchors deep in long-heldContinue reading “Many Gifts, Common Good”
Who Fixed the Roof?
When Mark is your Gospel pilot, best you buckle your seat belts tight. For he takes off into the story of God with us on a short runway, and it’s wheels-up before you know it. As we’ll hear shortly, Mark at the start is a man of few words. He wastes no time launching usContinue reading “Who Fixed the Roof?”