We’ve all done it. We look at someone whose sins are different from ours and say, “Well, at least I’m not like them.” We compare ourselves with others without even thinking about it. At least we aren’t homosexuals. At least we aren’t murderers. At least we aren’t adulterers. And the list goes on. It’s our…
A Jesus Centered Community of Scripture, Faith, and Grace
Church Blog (Page 53)
“Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals;…
We learn more than we realize from our parents. Not only do we learn from them how to speak and walk and ride a bicycle, we learn how to treat other people. If we see our parents berating a hapless grocery store employee, we’re likely to assume that’s how we should treat grocery store employees,…
This week there are very few students on campus, and Mary is off at the Youth and Family Ministry Association retreat, and so I took a little time to lengthen my usual walk around campus and the neighborhood surrounding our church location. I try to do these little walks every week to some extent, and…
The Bible is one big story, a story that you and I are a part of. We are included in the story of God, and we have vital parts to play. One of those parts is simple: we are to inform other people about God’s story. We see Philip doing that in our reading from…
There are a few definitions suggested for the word “abide” in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. It lists “to wait for,” “to endure without yielding,” “to bear patiently,” “to accept without objection,” “to remain stable or fixed in a state,” and “to continue in a place.” The word “abide” appears in our Gospel reading from this Sunday.…
Peter the Apostle can be summed up in one word: sheep. He would often see himself as the leader, the person who would speak up when no one else would, the eager one, the excited one. But often, other people would see him as the fool who messed up, whose enthusiasm led him off a…
I just got back from seeing Jimmy Buffett at Jazz Fest 2015, so I’ll open up this newsletter with a line from a favorite Jimmy Buffett song, “I’ve got a bartender ear, a beachcomber style, piratical nerve, and a vaudevillian style . . .” (Schoolboy Heart). It’s that “piratical nerve” line that reminds me so…
As humans, we tend to make things difficult for ourselves. We find ways to create stress and trouble. For example, we like to be busy. It’s considered weird in our society if we have a lot of spare time, so we work all day and go home to more work. It’s exhausting and it drains…
“Do as I say, not as I do.” This is often the mantra of parents everywhere. They want their children to grow up well, but they know that they are not perfect. So when they make a mistake, they tell their children, “Do as I say, not as I do.” Jesus was not like that.…