John 3:1-21 Our connotation of sneaking isn’t positive. That’s something dishonest people do, people who are trying to hide something, people who are ashamed of what they are doing. That’s a lot of baggage that we bring to the first part of this passage. Nicodemus comes under cover of darkness, to check Jesus out. Perhaps it makes him more anonymous,…
John 2: 13-25 Not long after turning water into wine at Cana, Jesus heads to Jerusalem ahead of the Passover. When Jesus gets to the temple, he finds the ‘lobby’ full of vendors. There’s a coffee bar, an ATM with high service charges, a t-shirt vendor, someone selling snowglobes, and a couple of food vendors. Jesus doesn’t like this. He clears…
John 1:35-51 John is gathered with his own disciples. He’s sort of successful. He’s well known, sometimes too well known, and has people who follow him. When Jesus walks by, John points him out, “Here is the Lamb of God!” which his disciples hear, and then go follow Jesus. Jesus invites them to come and see what he is all about.…
Granger leads worship.
John 1:1-18 The first three weeks of Advent had us moving from exile to the valley of dry bones, and then to Isaiah’s language of seeking God. The people are the ones moving in all these passages. God moves the people around, trying to get them to be more faithful, to be better followers, to be more closely the people of…
Isaiah 55:1-13 Full music service on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/ljoVXi-dS1Y
Ezekiel 37:1-14 Many times, we want God to bring us out of the place where we are to a better place, often a much better place. We don’t ask to be moved from the frying pan into the fire. We ask to be taken from the bad into the good. With that in mind, let’s look at this passage from Ezekiel.…
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-14 When times are good, there’s no need for change. (Who times are good for is another conversation.) However, when times aren’t so good, we often long for change. Often, things going terribly wrong are the only reason that we are willing to change. Exile is one of those big changes. Pandemic is one of those big changes.…
Isaiah 9:1-7 (8:17-22) People who walked in darkness have seen a great light. This is the Advent passage. This is the passage in song, in memory, that echoes in our ears and hearts and minds. We tell this story with joy, with less than hope and more like celebration, expectation of story that we already…
Amos 1:1-2; 5:14-15, 21-24 Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. It gets easy to talk in platitudes about what God says to us, about what words God uses with us. I’m pretty sure that none of us would have Amos 5:21-24 hanging in the entryway of our homes, as a sign to welcome visitors. We…