That is in the Bible?
Some of what is in the bible is pretty surprising. There are stories that are hard to wrap our minds around, history that is tough swallow, characters that are all too real) that we can all recognize ourselves in them), and rules that seem completely alien from our modern life. And then there’s the Psalms. In our bible reading plan, we entered into a few Psalms last week. The book of Psalms captures a wide range of situations, human emotions, and responses
1 Peter Can Be A Little Tough…
a guest blog by Shawn Blythe The first book of Peter is not a particularly easy read. There is a lot of talk about suffering and encouragement for us to submit ourselves to others. Nobody likes to be told to submit and few people like to suffer. To be fair, Peter is not exactly breaking new ground here as the basic theological precepts are also covered by others – most notably by Paul in his letters to the Ephesians and Colossians. But
The Mission Continues
If you’re following along with our bible reading plan (and I encourage you to!), tomorrow, we wrap up the book of Acts. As we started Acts, I mentioned that Acts 1:8 (“…you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”) functions as a sort of table of contents for the book (as it starts in Jerusalem, goes to Judea and then Samaria, and ends in Rome as ‘the ends of the earth’) – but
Missing Out with Bernice
A guest blog by Shawn Blythe The opportunity to make a difference in any one person’s life can often be a singular event. We cross paths with somebody only once and then both parties continue along their respective paths. In some cases, the encounter may be memorable or even life-changing while in other cases the intersection is inconsequential and quickly forgotten. Bernice crossed paths with Paul only once in Caesarea on or around the year 60 AD. She had already experienced a
Scripture is Script
At the end of the last sermon series (the Off the Shelf series), I introduced the idea that the story of scripture is the one true story of the world – that each of our own stories (and every other story) finds its meaning in. As that story, it is something like a six act play, where the majority of the 5th act is missing – and it is our role to “improvise” the rest of the 5th act, playing our part faithfully. I first heard
Jason’s Houseguests
a guest blog by Shawn Blythe We have all experienced the joys and travails of having a houseguest. Sometimes their departure comes with tears of sorrow that your time together is coming to an end, while other times they are tears of joy for the very same reason. There are plenty of occasions where Benjamin Franklin’s statement that “Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days” seems unfortunately appropriate. Although pre-dating this statement by a significant number of years, Paul would
John Mark: Margins of Miraculous
a guest blog by Shawn Blythe You’re not good enough. These are words that we have all likely heard at one time or another. They are typically a judgment regarding our ability to complete a task, or at the very least an unfavorable comparison with somebody else who can perhaps do it better. They are never words that we enjoy hearing. Whether it be related to our jobs, family or our ministry - nobody likes to be told that they don’t measure
The Holy Spirit & Scripture
This past weekend I (Rebecca) traveled to Dallas, Texas to visit a friend and was able to attend church with her Sunday morning. As we took a tour of the church I was struck by the universal soundtrack of Sunday mornings: teachers setting up crafts, printers pressing last minute papers, worship tuning and practicing, coffee brewing and indistinguishable conversations - moments of fellowship. Then as we began the service, we recited the Apostles Creed together. I was once again struck
Ethiopian Eunuch: Margins of Miraculous
a guest blog by Shawn Blythe. The Bible is full of characters who have clear guidance from God and an explicit mission to fulfill. Moses had his burning bush, Samuel had his vision in the temple, Mary had her heavenly visitors, and Paul had his conversion experience on the road to Damascus. But most of his will pass through our lives with less direct clarity from God. If, like me, that is your situation, then you will likely identify with the
More on the Tree of Life
On Sunday, we kicked off our series called “Between The Trees: the story of scripture and the 5 trees that tell it”. It’s a series that sums up the entire story of the bible, through the lens of these 5 important trees. The first message in the series was about the Tree of Life: a tree that is found in the Garden of Eden, and that gives renewed life to any and all who eat from it. In the sermon, we focused on God’s original