I Kings 9:1-9 Covenant is a key part of the story of God and humanity. There are times when the covenant is unconditional – God will do this thing regardless of what we do; and times when the covenant is conditional – if the people are faithful then God will do this thing. This passage focuses on a conversation between God and…
Here’s a look at how the Blessing Box served our neighbors during the month of May 2021. It’s there for people to take what they need, and for people to stock with their generosity.
Psalm 2 The challenging verses at the end of the Psalm can only be read in context of the whole Psalm. The Psalm is a contrast between the rule of God and God’s chosen ruler, and the earthly rulers. God’s anger and mockery are explicitly named here, in a way that perhaps we don’t think of as normal. God demands a deference…
Acts 2:1-4; Galatians 4:1-7 [5:16-26] Paul writes that the works of the flesh are obvious. And while the duality of flesh versus spirit is a problem, let’s go explore the obviousness. For Paul doesn’t call the works of the Spirit obvious. Our behavior illustrates that it isn’t obvious, or that we don’t care. There is a strong contrast with the fruits…
Galatians 3:1-9, 23-29 The end of this passage is the familiar part. The start is a bit more aggressive, a bit more John the Baptist, a bit louder than the tone we normally read the familiar part in. Paul does a bit of work here, addressing the people of faith in Galatia and in Marion. This duality between faith and…
Galatians 1:13-17; 2:11-21 Paul is here calling the other disciples on the carpet. It’s an odd passage to read a week after the Jerusalem conference, when we just heard about the church opening to Gentiles. It is important that we read the letter carefully, and in the context, remembering the conversation from Acts 15 last week. What Paul actually seems…
Acts 15:1-18 The Jerusalem conference is an important moment in the life of the Church. It is a defining moment. Do people have to join the church through Judaism, or is there another way? Is salvation through the circumcision of Moses alone or is there another way? Fundamentally, the church and its leaders have to make a decision here.…
We’ll be hosting a Red Cross Blood drive on Tuesday, May 25, 2021 from 2 to 6 pm in the Fellowship Hall. The summer months have a particularly high need for blood, and a number of blood drives have had to be cancelled over the length of the COVID-19 pandemic, so supplies are down. If…
We got a call on March 9th to see if we would be willing to provide space for a Community Garden to provide fresh food to local food pantries. Fresh food is expensive, and often too expensive for those who are food insecure or the agencies that provide aid to the food insecure. Session was excited about the idea, and since that…
Acts 8:26-39 So often our assumption is that missionaries and evangelism and conversion work is just sent to people who have never heard the Gospel. Contained inside that assumption are several others. One is that the Gospel is do obvious, and so compelling, and so irresistible that one only needs to be introduced to it to be converted by it. Of…
