Messages of Joy

Early in the week I was reading through the devotion from “The Word in Season” and it stuck with me.  You may know by heart Psalm 23 where it says “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me (4).”  (or you may know it the way I do:  Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil”) The devotion went on to…

Yesterday was the commemoration of St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226).  Born to a rich merchant’s family in Italy, as a young man he was fascinated by adventure and became a knight.  The story goes that he encountered a leper and was moved to kiss the man’s face.  From that moment he started reimagining his life in light of the gospel.  He renounced his selfish ways and…

It was the first verse of the letter to the Philippians that answered my prayers this week.  What do our congregations need right now?  “If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing of the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy” (Phil. 2:1).  We could all use the love that accompanies all these right now.  We do not have a list of…

              Parable of the Vineyard This parable is not about money or fairness though it might seem like that on the surface.  First we have to know that the Vineyard in the days this was written was a metaphor for the Community in Christ.  AND we have to know that the kingdom of God does not look like our earthly kingdoms.  God gives us more than we…

        “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”   26 They (the disciples) looked at each other greatly astounded and said to one another “Then who can be saved?”  27Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but…

I didn’t get past the very first line of the Romans passage before I was convicted.  “Owe no one anything, except to love one another.”  While I appreciate the message, I still owe a lot on my student loan and a car.  And it is only in time that I will be able to work it off.  So a little guilt came my way.  I remember someone saying “the borrower is always enslaved to…

Here we have it, straight talk on marching orders for Christians of maturity everywhere.  I have to say that this time I started off with a connection to the Matthew 16 reading.  Verse 23b: “you are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”   I think Jesus is after a list that Paul gives us here in Romans.  So I made…

Imagine with me a cable sweater.  It is in the midst of going together but when I pull the sweater out of the project bag it looks like quite a mess.  I have to pay attention when I knit—especially to the set up row for cables or the sweater will not work out.   When I think about God knitting, I see that the cables are all perfect and planned and each one of us in the…

In the ‘Scandal of Grace’ we receive God’s mercy in spite of ourselves.  It is described in the words of verse 30.  We never get what we deserve; we would die if we did.  God seems to love us NO MATTER what we do or how far away we walk. It’s the true Never-ending Story of how we say we want to go it alone and do our own thing.  God is waiting when we come back…

 On the Great British Baking Show we see bakers doing their very best to get a handshake from Paul Hollywood, baker extraordinaire.  Especially during bread week.  He is famously critical saying “not proofed enough” and walking away from even a taste.  “There’s dough in the middle of the bread.  The bakers are all shaking in their boots.  Yeast will make it all rise, but…

I don’t know about you, but this virus stuff gets me down sometimes.  Have you noticed you are too?  When you are down, how do you comfort yourself?  Some people might make a phone call or go for a walk…but I make comfort food.  Tuna Casserole, Spaghetti, French Fries…What are your comfort foods?  I know the pastors’ Bible Study Group had me wondering.  Some of theirs…