21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice […]

I don’t think that we can understand our purpose with other understanding our Identity.  Jesus always began with showing people how God saw them.  Jesus refused to identify the humanity of anyone with his or her work, whether it was fishing or tax collecting.

Why is there Suffering? HARD QUESTIONS Fourth Sunday after Epiphany Job and His Family 1 There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. 2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3 He had seven thousand […]

For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures… 

Here is the deal.  God chooses to bring us into the world.  God’s grace claims us and reclaims us over and over again. We don’t need to get all balled up over whether or not we are adequate or worthy.  With the exception of Jesus, we are all unworthy and without hope save in God’s sovereign mercy.

2In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” 3When King Herod heard this, he was […]

We tend to think of Christmas-season traditions as ancient, but most of them are rather recent, born in the 19th century. “A Visit From St. Nicholas” was published in 1823, and “A Christmas Carol” in 1843. Thomas Nast’s drawings of jolly Santa Claus debuted in 1862. Meanwhile, in 1841, Queen Victoria’s husband, Albert, had introduced […]

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever – by Barbara Robinson Selected texts The Herdmans were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world. They lied and stole and smoked cigars (even the girls) and talked dirty and hit little kids and cussed their teachers and took the name of the Lord in vain and […]

Advent 2C 3In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, 2during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to […]

Allegiances have you proclaimed? I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign…