Luke 2:41-52 This is an interesting passage. Often we look at how bad the parenting of Mary and Joseph is that they lost their kid for three days, or how snarky tween-age Jesus was. It is one of the few Scriptural stories of Jesus we have between his birth and infancy and his adult ministry. It provides a unique view into the…

Granger explores the meeting of Ann and Simeon and the Christ child.

Luke 1:26-45 [46-56]     Announcement of Jesus’ birth to Mary; he will receive the throne of David. Much of the Old Testament contains stories about women and children. We remember the stories of women who did not have children, and who could not have children, until God intervened. We remember Sarah, and Rachel, and Hannah. We remember that the promises of God…

Isaiah 61:1-11       The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to bring good news, liberty, and to make an everlasting covenant.

Joel 2:12-13, 28-29    Turn to a merciful God, promise of the Spirit. As we look at our world, as we have throughout this year, and even decade, or maybe century, we often wonder along with the Psalmist, “How long, O Lord?” At times, we wonder how long God will put up with us, or if not us, them. Joel, on the…

Daniel 6:6-27     Daniel in the lions’ den; deliverance; God’s kingdom shall never be destroyed. Daniel is perhaps most famous for this passage. It is one we learn as children. It has drama, and excitement, and lions. We may also remember Daniel and the fiery furnace, or Daniel and his weird dreams/visions. These are the high points of the stories – the…

Jeremiah 36:1-8, 21-23, 27-28 and Jeremiah 31:31-34 Jeremiah has a word from God for the king and the kingdom that the king doesn’t want to hear. Jeremiah is barred from the God’s house, so he sends a scroll with Baruch to the house of the Lord to read the scroll. The scroll makes its way to the king, and as the king…

Isaiah 6:1-8 Typically the call of Isaiah is preached at things like ordinations, sometimes at graduations, or at commissioning of missionaries. We end up focusing on the end lines, “Here I am, send me!” When we do that, we miss so much from this encounter. Isaiah has a vision that puts him in the presence of God, in God’s throne room. Isaiah’s…

Jonah 1:1-17; 3:1-10 [4:1-11] Here we find another middle of the faith journey story. Jonah is a person of faith, who both believes certain things about God – that God is slow to anger and abiding in steadfast love – and is called by God to be God’s messenger. So he gets sent to Nineveh, into the middle of ‘them,’ into the…

1 Kings 17:1-16 [17-24] Elijah is one of the big names in the Bible. People this Jesus is him, and that should place him in the power and memory structure of the people of God. So it isn’t really surprising that God does some work to keep Elijah alive during a famine. The first way in which God keeps Elijah alive is…