Back to Life
Last week, my friend who moved to Texas posted about how, no matter where in the world people from NJ are - even the most beautiful, awe inspiring places - they will still find a way to mention how NJ has pizza and all four seasons. Winter, though barren, brings hot cocoa and cozy evenings; it’s often a time of intentionality. Spring brings new life and fresh starts. This past Monday, we mourned the end of summer: the end of
Busy, Busy, Busy
A guest blog by Shawn Blythe. We are busy people. I know this because when somebody amicably asks me how things are going, my first instinct is to answer “Busy!” Whether it is true or not, that is the impression that I have of my life. Busy with home repairs, daily tasks, family visits, church responsibilities, hobbies, vacations, and a myriad of other activities that fill my calendar. The 19th chapter of Matthew always resonates with me because it also seems
More Than Enough To Go Around
Today’s reading in our Central Reads 2024 bible reading plan is a bit of a tough one…at first glance. There’s a story that, quite frankly, is difficult to understand – because of how out of place it seems for Jesus. It’s the one where a Canaanite woman comes to Jesus to have her daughter healed of a demon, and Jesus responds by basically saying that he’s only come for the lost sheep of Israel, and that it’s not right to give the
Act On It.
In this week’s readings from the bible reading plan, we finished the sermon on the mount on Monday (Matthew 7). It’s an amazing bit of teaching from Jesus, world-changing, personally convicting, and far reaching. But I want to highlight how it ends – because I think it’s what is so often missed:24 “Everyone, then, who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. 25 The rain fell, the floods came, and
The One That Got Away
The One That Got Away Fishermen look back on their great fishing excursions and always have a story to tell about “the one that got away”. I've heard people talk about past loves like that. I look at the 2008 NY Giants season like that. If Plaxico hadn’t shot himself in the leg, they were going to win back-to-back championships. They were dominant that year. That was the one that got away. The same is always true (for me at least!) for sermon
A Cruciform Life
As I said in last week’s Central Thoughts blog, we’re in the middle of a Sunday series on Paul’s letter to the Philippians – and we just don’t have enough time to talk about everything. Last Sunday, for instance, I ended the sermon by talking about Phil. 3:10 and how all Paul wants is to “know Christ and the power of his resurrection” – and explained how Christ’s story IS our true story, and when we know Christ, we become transformed by the power
Go Ahead and Bet It All
On Sundays, we’re in the middle of a series from Paul’s letter to the Philippians. We’re looking at a few different moments where Paul tells us things we “need to know” to have a faith that can survive and thrive in the midst of a challenging world. Unfortunately, however, we don’t have time to look at every last verse (or else the series would be VERY long!), so we have to skip over a few things. I want to highlight one thing
Astounding Faith
A guest blog by Rebecca DeLucia, Next Generation Pastor Have you ever met someone whose faith is so astounding it leaves an impression on you, maybe it even challenges you? I imagine that Rahab was one of those people for the two spies in Jericho. She certainly ought to be for us, as we read her story in Central Reads today. The Israelites had just wandered the desert for 40 years because of their lack of faith in the God whom they saw first-hand
The Importance of Dialog
A guest blog by Shawn Blythe. They are seven short words buried in the middle of I Corinthians that are very easy to overlook. After extolling the Corinthians about divisions in the church, wisdom and sexual immortality, Paul begins chapter 7 with the statement: “Now, for the matters you wrote about . . . “ We are very used to reading the letters in the Bible as one-way correspondence from church leaders to the churches. We are less familiar with communications in
More Thinking Like Jesus
This last week or so was a busy one. We had the Juneteenth Celebration at St. Paul’s, our first Summer Hang Out at the Sandbox, Onwards & Upwards on Sunday, and a wild power-knocking-out storm (the church lost a few roof shingles…not too bad!). What a week!I want to remind you that this Sunday is our next All In New Members Class. If you’re thinking of becoming a member at Central, looking to learn more about the church and membership, or