You hear me frequently refer to the Kingdom of God in my sermons. There is a very good reason for this. The Gospels are all about Jesus revealing the Kingdom of God. He talks about the Kingdom of God all the time and he tells us that all that healing, and exorcising, and sitting down […]
My preaching professor in seminary told my class that when we prepare to preach, we should look for the Good News in the passage we are preaching from. Well, some weeks are easier than others. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out […]
Over the next 11 weeks all of our Old Testament readings will be taken from the books of First and Second Samuel, so I thought it might be helpful to step back this morning and take some time to look at the bigger picture. What are these two books, which many scholars say should really […]
So, who here fully and completely understands the Trinity? Anyone? I know I sure don’t. It is one of those theological concepts that can be very difficult to grasp. Non Christians, especially those who are monotheistic—Jewish people and Muslims—will often excuse us of being tri-theistic, believing in three gods. I can understand their confusion, “God […]
This morning, I want to share with you my own personal experience of Pentecost. We often think of the Holy Spirit as something that is wild and brings chaos and disorder to our world, and sometimes it does, but other times the Holy Spirit works to bring us together, to find our commonality and to […]
s with all parables, the parable of the sheep and the goats offers many different interpretations depending on your perspective. Some argue that this parable is about the nations, or the gentiles, and Jesus is saying that those Gentiles who care for the followers of Christ will find salvation and those who don’t will be […]
he idea of eternal punishment or “hell” is a difficult concept for modern progressive Christians. Because we understand that God is love itself, we cannot imagine that God would ever condemn any human being, no matter what they did during their lifetimes, to eternal pain and suffering. I think this evolution in our thinking is […]
I think it is important to read Scripture in light of Scripture. Too often we Christians, even progressive ones, read passages of Scripture in isolation from other Scripture and come up with very mistaken interpretations as a result. I believe it is much more helpful to follow the lead of our Jewish forebears, including Jesus, […]
Our reading from Deuteronomy, chapter 34:1-12, marks the end of the book and the end of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These five books tell the story of the formation of the people of Israel: their call into being by God, their trials and tribulations, […]
Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Matthew 22:21 Before we get into what these well-known and well-worn words might mean, I want to set the stage for you. I want, as always, to give you some context. […]