Duplicity

Duplicity disguised as simplicity – simple devotion, believed, but fundamentally empty. Imagine with me that there is this person who seems very devoted to you. I mean, this person does all the right things almost all the time. Hey, this person is nice to have around. But what if you find out that this person doesn’t really like you. Continue reading

Rebellious Children

Have you ever stubbed your toe and then got angry at whatever you stubbed your toe on? Sure you have. I may or may not have even kicked a chair for daring to leap out in front of my innocent toe. Which didn’t help my toe feel better at all. It may or may not have caused even more pain. Continue reading

Vision

What do you think about visions? Do you get a picture of a fake spiritualist, complete with colorful flowing robes and jangling bangles, predicting the future or communing with the dead? Or maybe it is a very realistic dream all full of terrible meaning. Some of the rabbis taught that Moses was given a vision of the plans for the Tabernacle; a visual pattern that had to be followed exactly. I think some are threatened by the idea of visions; dismissing them as the tool of manipulation from an age of superstition. Continue reading

Shifting Situations and a Holy Response

Some things shift and change while others remain rock solid. Situations change and with that shifting comes a demand for a different response. If I try to respond to my adult children the same way I did when they were children, the result would be disastrous. I don’t get to make decisions for them, although some times I wish I did. The situation has shifted and my response needs to shift with it. And this will also be true in our walk with God. Should we try to do church the way it was done in the fifties? Continue reading

Farwell Blessing

Hey! God bless you! Are you wondering if someone sneezed? Sometimes, in our culture, maybe in every culture, a “God bless you” is thrown out there with no conviction of God actually blessing anyone. It’s just what you say when someone sneezes, or when you are trying to get those crazy Christians to vote for you. In the Old Testament the priests were commanded by God to bless the people. In Numbers 6:24-26 God even gives them a specific blessing: “Yahweh bless you, and keep you; Yahweh make his face to shine on you, and be gracious to you; Yahweh lift up his countenance on you, and give you peace.” Continue reading

A Spirit Thing

From the beginning of Luke’s gospel and throughout, we have see the Holy Spirit filling and guiding. Gabriel tells Zacharias that his son will be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb. We see evidence of this when Mary comes to visit Elizabeth and baby John does some leaping in the womb. The beginning of Jesus is also about the moving of the Spirit; the coming of power in the form of a virgin conception and birth. As was mentioned at the beginning of this series of articles, the story of Jesus is the story of the movement of the Spirit of God. Continue reading

Bodily Resurrection

The Greco-Roman world believed strongly in dualism. They divided the spirit and the flesh into two separate things. And then they reasoned that all matter was tainted. So, the ultimate good would to become a bodiless spirit floating off to the spirit realm. Free from this filthy flesh at last. Much of our thoughts about heaven and the resurrection actually come more from Plato than from Scripture. Well, and maybe a misunderstanding of the words of Paul. Paul uses the word “flesh” to describe the contrary to God nature. That is true. But he uses the same word to describe the material body with no hint of sinfulness. Continue reading

Bread

Why do funerals and weddings conclude with meals? Why not have a service and call it good; send people home to get on with their busy lives? I’m not suggesting that it is wrong to not have a reception, but isn’t there something about the meal that seems to wrap it all up? When we celebrated my dad’s life, we invited everyone to stay for a meal. Even though it is added stress and expense, I’m glad we didn’t skip this part of the memorial service. Continue reading

Scripture

Do you know Jesus? Have you ever had a “coming to Jesus” moment? What does that even mean? For some, knowing Jesus is a grasping at an ideal. Well, there is some truth here. But some do a whole lot of grasping without any opening of the Bible. Some even delve into secondary sources to discover what a certain well-known person says about Jesus and what it takes to know him. Nothing wrong here. Except . . . Well, except if the primary source sits collecting dust on a shelf somewhere. I hear people making claims about Jesus and I think, “where did that come from?” Some expert somewhere. Continue reading

Women Witnesses

In the Roman Empire a woman’s testimony was not legally valid. Male chauvinist much. This is so much more than giving a wife a pass on testifying against her husband. Nothing was legally validated through the witness of women. If you want to believe your wife that a tsunami is rushing toward the house, well, that’s on you. But if a woman witnessed a murder, well, that murderer is not going to see any consequences. Continue reading