It is the end. Jesus now prays, “Father, into Your hands I entrust my spirit.” You may find it surprising: Jesus did not originate that prayer. In our Lord’s day, thousands prayed the same prayer every day. For it was the common bedtime prayer for the Jews of the first century. Today, our bedtime prayer […]
How Religious Are We as a People?
March 25, 2016 by
This is our pastor’s article for the April 2016 edition of our congregational newsletter. A year or so ago, my eyes took in a graph showing the “measure of aggregate religiosity” in the United States over the last 60 years. The chart displayed a whiz-bang of statistics, which used computer algorithms to track a […]
Maundy Thursday Sermon: Remembering… for you
March 24, 2016 by
Our God is a God of ritual. He commanded His Old-Covenant people to take part in a yearly ritual: The Passover meal. In the first Passover, God freed His people from their slavery in Egypt. Every year after their liberation, God told the Israelites to remember the first Passover by eating a meal, which God […]
Palm Sunday: John 12:12-19: What the Donkey Tells Us
March 20, 2016 by
Right now, we have no audio of this sermon to post. If that changes, the sermon will be uploaded. Perhaps, you delighted in watching the old movie clips. Perhaps, you lived it. World War 2 was over, and we welcomed our veterans back home, victorious from the fight. Flags lined the procession. Guests of honor […]
Ron and Vashon’s Wedding Homily
March 19, 2016 by
Ronald Leach and Vashon Borich were married on March 19, 2016 at Thorncrown Chapel, Eureka Springs, Arkansas. As you can see, the chapel is beautiful, nestled in the woods. This is their wedding homily. Because the chapel is such a popular place where many choose to get married, the service and sermon were abbreviated (hence, the word […]
Suffering Through the Lenses of Job, Lesson 7: Job’s Recognition, Repentance, and Restoration
March 19, 2016 by
Intro The Lord answered Job, pulling Job from an inward focus on his suffering to what is beyond: God. By stating who He is and what that means, God inductively taught Job: If I am all-powerful, then I am taking care of you in my way and time. I am even more powerful than the […]
Suffering Through the Lenses of Job, Lesson 6: The Lord Answers Job
March 19, 2016 by
Intro Elihu came, said his words, and left. We now find God responding to Job’s suffering. The Whirlwind: The Law and Judgement against His Enemies Isaiah 29:6: Judgment will come from the Lord of the Heavenly Armies—with thunder, earthquake, and great noise, with whirlwind, tempest, and flames of consuming fire. Jeremiah 23:19: Look, a […]
The Books of the Old Testament: The Apocrypha
March 17, 2016 by
This article is a supplement to the church bulletin for our Palm Sunday service. The Old Testament reading is from 2 Maccabees 10:1-7, which gives us a better context for understanding the people’s response as Jesus rode into Jerusalem. The text from 2 Maccabees reads: With the Lord leading them, Maccabeus and his followers restored […]
Our Lord’s Final Words from the Cross: Finished
March 16, 2016 by
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” In clear-cut and dramatic language, the Bible tells us how everything began. “In the beginning, God created.” What then of the end? God is still there! In the sixth word from the cross is our Savior, who was there in the beginning, through whom “everything […]
Isaiah 43:16-21: Remembering and Forgetting
March 13, 2016 by
Old age creeps into our lives, sometimes stealing our memories from us. Now, we may joke about it, but the humor soon dies away, forgotten as the forgetfulness increases. How frustrating not to remember the past or someone’s name. How distressing for the events in your life to fade away and disappear. How heart-breaking for […]
