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The Seeds Blown and Sown
We know about Stephen—the first deacon of the church and first martyr--but let me give you some other examples of people who have lived and died in our own century or at least in our own time or for what they believed.
May 15, 2022
Welcoming Even Doubters and Deniers
Today’s story is likely placed as an epilogue, a story that has unfolded before us. If we read this epilogue closely, we can find several things that are still worth pointing out and telling us about who we are, and what we have to do when Easter vibes have been fading out.
May 1, 2022
The Invitation to be Co-Writers of Holy Stories
In today’s passage, John seemed to understand doubting Thomas. In addition, Jesus did not dismiss Thomas from the circle of his disciples for failing to trust what the others had told him. Jesus made sure Thomas was included in that circle by coming back and repeating the whole scene a second time for doubting Thomas alone.
April 24, 2022
The Invitation for a New Beginning
In today’s passage, that is all Mary was doing at the first Easter morning—paying her respects, going to his tomb to convince herself it was all true. Jesus’s death was natural. Grief was natural. To expect a sealed tomb was natural.
April 17, 2022
The Prophetic Action
I imagine in today’s passage that people made Jesus supper, all of them chopping up things for the stew while Jesus sat and watched them. Martha was in charge. The others did what she told them to do. Lazarus maybe was still clumsy and even stiff from his four days in the tomb.
April 10, 2022
Why Me, Why This, and Why Now?
We, humans, always chase after getting the sense of control and security. That’s why we often pray “Tell us why, God, and maybe we can offer a convincing argument why not;” “Tell us why, and maybe we can be so outraged by the answer that we decide to reject it and manufacture answers of our own;” “Tells us anything we can handle, control, but do not ask us just to believe it.”
April 3, 2022
I Was Blind, Now I See
Today’s story, the ninth chapter of John, revolved around the blind man himself and Jesus; because they were the only so-called sinners in the story—the man because he was born blind,
which in his day was a sure sign of God’s judgement; and Jesus because he broke one of the Ten Commandments by healing the man on the sabbath.
March 27, 2022
Whom Do You Claim to Be?
In today’s passage, we just read a harsh conversation between Jesus and the Pharisees. Jesus told the Pharisees that they were illegitimate, lying children, born of the devil, who would die in their sins. As a response to these sayings, the Pharisees told Jesus he was a suicidal Samaritan possessed by a demon.
March 20, 2022
What Does “Son of God” Mean for Us?
What today’s passage tells us clearly about is Jesus did not wander into the wilderness by mistake, after all. Jesus was led there by the Spirit, who delivered him to the devil for his forty-day test. Actually, the exam came at the end of those forty days, when Jesus was famished.
March 13, 2022
To Walk Closer with God in the Wilderness
In today’s passage, Jesus was in the wilderness, accompanied only by the wild animals, but otherwise all alone.
March 6, 2022
The Promise Is The Same For All
Jesus chose to stand among people--not above but among the people to whom he spoke. We could imagine that there were a lot of sick people in the crowd; there were a lot of people with crazy looks in their eyes and others who clearly had not eaten for a while. If we were there, what would we expect from him? We would have expected to see more miracles—making the blind to see; cleansing the leper; feeding another five thousand.
February 27, 2022
Becoming A Sign Rather Than Asking For One
In today’s passage, Gideon was one of Israel’s judges, Gideon was not brave, he kept coming up with reasons why not, and he would not move without a clear God-sign from God. That is why and what I like about Gideon—his ordinariness like you and me, and his undisguised hesitancy about answering God’s calling.
February 20, 2022
The Power of God in Our Choices
In today’s passage, someone they had never seen before in their lives said, “Follow me,” and they did, made a huge choice by leaving their families, their jobs, and their homes behind in order to go with Jesus.
February 13, 2022
Seeking a Higher Ground
In today’s passage, Jesus offended the people in his hometown by telling them not one, but two stories about how God had passed over them and their kin in order to minister to strangers—first the widow from the wrong side of the tracks in Zerephath and then Naaman the Syrian, who was an officer in the army of Israel’s enemies.
February 6, 2022
Holy Struggle to Be One Body
One difficulty with Paul’s metaphor in the passage, for me, is that I cannot feel it, not the way I can feel my own fingers and toes. Well, we all may feel sorry for each other or glad for each other, but if someone hits you, my skin does not bruise, and when you get a raise, my standard of living does not go up.
January 23, 2022
The Present Was the Only Place that the Manna was Found
Today’s passage begins, the rabble among them had a strong craving and the Israelites also wept again saying, “If only we had meat. We have nothing but this manna to look at”.
January 9, 2022
The Past and the Future are Clear
Sometimes we may hear that someone says that the past is gone and the future is uncertain; and the present is all that is clear. However, today’s passage believes in just the opposite. It is that the past and the future are very clear, and the present and our choices are quite uncertain.
January 2, 2022
To Believe in a Promise and to Live by It
In today’s passage, when Abram was one year short of a hundred years old, God appeared to him again, renewing the covenant between them, “I am El Shaddai which means I am God Almighty.”
December 26, 2021
“Are you the one who is to come, or shall we wait for another?”
On this Christmas Sunday, the question from today’s reading appears to challenge us, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”
December 19, 2021
Singing A Song Ahead of Time
In today’s passage, Mary, who was chosen by God to bear the Christ baby, intentionally chose joy in the midst of all her possible embarrassed, scared, and afraid situations.
December 12, 2021