Has God ever spoken to you? Have you ever seen a sign? Heard a voice? Met God in a dream? As I was finishing up my senior year of high school, I was kind of a mess. I could not figure out where I wanted to go to college, and my indecision was creating a…
Epiphany
Recognizing the Messiah
Text: Isaiah 49:1-7, John 1:29-42 It only takes a spark… As I’ve shared with you in the past, my extended family has often been to Hawaii together. My grandpa and grandma were fairly blessed in their life and made the decision long ago to spend their money bringing us together than leave money to be…
Renew Our Whereabouts
Text: Isaiah 42:1-9, Matthew 3:13-17 This weekend, I’ve been gathered along with our confirmation students and mentors and teachers for a retreat. Our focus has been what makes us distinctly United Methodist. We’ve talked about our church structure, the way of discipleship, how we discover wo God is, and what we believe about grace. Along…
Renew the Journey
Text: Isaiah 60:1-6, Matthew 2:1-12 Gracious God… May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts and minds be acceptable to you O Lord, our Light and our Salvation… Amen. We find ourselves in a transitional time. It is a transition between the season of Christmas and the ordinary time…
Bible 101: Art, Science, History of Interpretation
Text: Luke 11: 27-28 Over these last few weeks in Bible 101, we have explored how our scriptures were put together, translated, and some of the creative tension that was baked into the text itself. Today, our focus is on interpretation. Once we understand what a scripture meant in the time and place it was…
Bible 101: Pulling Meat Out of a Text
Text: Hebrews 5:11-6:3, Revelation 3:15-16 The author of Hebrews doesn’t seem very nice. The people they are writing to are called lazy. They are compared with babies, needing milk instead of solid food. And… the author is impatient because they aren’t sure the people have been listening at all. Well, maybe I might snap just…
Bible 101: From the Septuagint to the Message
Text: John 1:1-14, 2 Timothy 3:16-17 First question I have for all of you… how many of you felt like last week’s discussion of quantum mechanics and elephants was a tiny bit over your head? That’s okay! Each week we are going to explore a different way of approaching the bible and a different part…
Bible 101: Quantum Mechanics, Elephants, and JEPD
Text: Selections (interwoven) from Mark 1, Matthew 3, Luke 3, John 1 on John the Baptist and the Baptism of Jesus In Western Christianity, we want to know the right answer. We have been conditioned, educated, by our schools, our philosophy, our churches, to look at facts and to believe there is only one truth.…