“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,…

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…

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.…

Have you ever had a bad substitute teacher? I recall hearing about one at my high school. He was a fairly regular substitute until one day, he was talking to one of my classmates who was going through a hard time. He supposedly told her that she would be better off committing suicide. This was…

I have some friends who refuse to watch the news. They say it’s because it’s too depressing and violent. They come away after watching the news with a sense that there is nothing good in the world, because the reporters only talk about the bad things while ignoring the good things. This reminds me of…

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are,” begins 1st John 3. “The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” We can see the love of the Father all around us. We…