Luke 1: 39-45 Elizabeth was said to be barren (1: 7), and Mary said she was a young woman/a virgin (1: 27). Zechariah reacted to what Gabriel told him, “How will I know this is so? I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years?” Elizabeth was too old, and Mary…
Out of the Blue, It Came
Luke 3: 1-6 Sometimes God comes to someone already in the wilderness. Luke gives his readers and listeners a background, a context of history. There are layers of authority in place, and the word of the Lord came to a man in the wilderness. This is how God came to the region around the Jordan….
He’s Drawing Close to You
Luke 21: 25-33 Advent means coming. About six and a half years ago, we were in a difficult financial position. I made an error in making a past due payment on our Verizon account. I paid the whole bill, which we couldn’t afford, instead of the past due amount only. It hamstrung our finances. It…
Christ Our King
Revelation 1: 4-8 The minister of a rural church in the Ozarks suggested to his parishioners that they purchase a chandelier. It was put to a vote, and all members voted it down. “Why do you oppose the purchase of a chandelier?” asked the preacher. “Well,” said one of the members, “first, we can’t spell…
Does the Lord Remember Us?
1 Samuel 1: 4-20 The Lord remembered her. Hannah would weep because she could not conceive and bear a child. She would endure scorn and ridicule from her rival year after year. In the annual festival to go to Shiloh to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts, Hannah went to the temple,…
Something’s Going to Happen
Luke 7: 36-50 When I’m learning something or needing to accomplish something through a sequential procedure that I’m not familiar with then I’m comfortable with formulas (A+B=C). I remember my mother would be asked to bake a cake for the women’s group at her church. She always agreed because she would say the baked cakes others would…
Better Than We Could
James 5: 13-16 In trouble? Pray Happy? Sing songs of praise. Sick? Call the elders of the church to pray and anoint with oil. Your condition or emotions call for a response. Keeping your condition or emotions to yourself is not natural for a Christian. Waiting for and expecting things to change on their own…
A Cup and A Baptism
Mark 10: 32-40 There are three places and times where Jesus foretells his arrest, death and resurrection in the gospel of Mark. We read and heard the third this morning. Over the last several weeks we’ve heard all three. After Jesus prophesied his death and resurrection a second time in chapter nine, the disciples argued…
More Stubborn than Righteous
Mark 10: 2-16 The Pharisees came to Jesus to test him. Students in school have been tested, challenged, quizzed by their teachers since schools first opened. On one occasion a student burst into his professor’s office and said, “Professor Stigler, I don’t believe I deserve this F you’ve given me.” To which Stigler replied, “I…
Blunt Words from Jesus
Mark 9: 38-50 This is a carrying on of what we heard and shared last Sunday. We’re in the same chapter of Mark that we were. The flow from being the greatest is found in being the last of all to welcoming the forgotten and ignored to whoever is not against us is for us…
Psalm 102 in The Message 