Genesis 32:[9-13] 22-30 Jacob Wrestles God (Mark 14:32-36) Here we catch up to Jacob as he is about to head home. He has been on a long trip from home. His father sent him to find a wife among the extended family, which he has done, indeed, he has found two wives, 11 children, and been away from home for a…
Genesis 18:1-15; 21:1-7 Isaac Born to Sarah (Mark 10:27) God and angels come to visit with Sarah and Abraham. Abraham sees them and runs to greet them (do you hear the prodigal son?) Abraham flags down the travelers and encourages them to stop. Next he orders a meal to be made. Bread is to be made, a calf is to be…
I Corinthians 11:23-29, James 5:13-18, Matthew 6:5-15, Luke 10:1-17, Mark 6:7-13, Matthew 28:19-20, John 6:48–58 Table, Prayer, Sending The things we do at the end of the service, or towards the end of the service are important, too. We gather at God’s table, we pray for ourselves, our neighbors, and our world, and we are sent out into the world. There’s some…
Genesis 1:1-9, Isaiah 40:1-8, Hebrews 4:12-14, John 1:1-14, 2 Timothy 3:16-4:5 Our worship is centered around the word. We gather around the word, the proclaim the word, and we respond to the word. That’s the basic structure for our ‘normal’ worship service. The word can be the text of Scripture. It can be those words that we read from the Bible.…
I John 1:5-10, Hebrews 4:14-16, I Timothy 1:15-17, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, Matthew 13:13-16, John 6:52-69 Confession carries two meanings in our worship. It is the sense in which we own up to our wrong doings and our failings and shortcomings. It is also the sense in which we say what we believe. In both…
Psalm 146, Psalm 150, Psalm 117, 2 Corinthians 1:1-5 Each of our worship services starts with praise. We call ourselves to worship by praising God. For what do we praise God? What words do we use to praise God? What stories do we tell to praise God? What is the tone of our praise? This will be a ‘praise service’ that…
Malachi 3:6-12, Acts 4:32-5:11 And now, we come to the “or else.” Except it really isn’t an ‘or else.’ It’s more of a ‘follow through.’ In Malachi God wants to know why we aren’t following through on our giving. God asserts that we’re actually robbing God of what is God’s (and it’s all God’s). God asserts that we’re shortchanging God by…
Micah 6:6-8, Matthew 23:23, Deuteronomy 14:22-29 What we return to God isn’t all tangible goods, though. Everything doesn’t have a value that fits on a 1040, or that we can make an insurance claim for. What does God expect of us? Even if we tithe spices, what does God want us to offer from…