In John’s gospel, Jesus performs his first miracle at a wedding. We talk about Cana, we use the passage to reflect the snark of Jesus addressing his mother, the oddity of having Christians make teetotalling a doctrine of faithfulness, and the amazed wonder of the steward about the quality of the wine. What happens in Jesus’ first miracle is the…
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…
1 Kings 19:1-18 Elijah at Horeb; The prophet in despair, God speaks in the silence. Elijah is responding to Ahab and Jezebel’s words in this passage. He responds with fear, by running away. While he’s running, he rests, and an angel of the Lord plants him firmly in the middle of a Snickers commercial. After eating, Elijah has the strength for…
