Today is the second Sunday of Advent and we are once again invited to hear the story of John the Baptist. This year we are reading his story from the gospel of Luke. John is the one who shows up from the wilderness to help announce the entrance of Jesus into the story of humanity. […]
Over the past several weeks we have been reading about Israel’s early history when they were ruled by kings. First there was Saul and then David. In today’s scripture we will be reading of the death of David and the battle over who will be the next king. Today we move into the Old Testament […]
Over the past few weeks we have been reading through the stories of the early history of Israel when they were ruled by their first kings. Saul was first and then David. Last week we read the story which begins the downfall of David as king. We read the story of David’s rape of Bathsheba […]
Over the past few weeks, we have been reading through the stories from Israel’s early history when they were ruled by kings. Their first king was Saul and then David rose to power as their second king. Up until today we have been reading about how David was faithful to God and how God chose […]
Today we continue reading through the Old Testament books of 1st and 2nd Samuel. Last week we read the story of the anointing of David to become the 2nd king of ancient Israel replacing Saul. David was an unlikely choice because he was the youngest of 8 children and overlooked as kingly material. But we […]
Today we continue reading from I Samuel about the first kings of ancient Israel. Last week, we read that Israel was governed by judges who tended to be weak which led to Israel being invaded a lot by its enemies. The people demanded a king like the nations around them. God did not want them […]
This summer we are going to spend time reading through stories found in the Old Testament books of I and II Samuel. I and II Samuel are books telling about events from 3000 years ago but stories that we will find very relevant today. I and II Samuel was originally one book written in the […]
Trinity Sunday, May 30, 2021 – Celebrating the Unfathomable Mystery of God Sing : We who believe in freedom cannot rest We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes. I went to lunch a couple of months ago at the home of human rights activist Ruby Sales. When it was time to say […]
“Pentecost Sunday” Acts 2:1-21: Philip Jennifer Adkins In just these past few months we all have celebrated Jesus’s Birthday at Christmas. We celebrated the resurrection of Jesus on Easter and today the 50th day after the resurrection (the seventh Sunday from Easter Sunday) we now celebrate Pentecost Sunday, the birthday of the church. Pentecost celebrates […]
This morning we are going to be reading a text from I John. I John is part of three letters which we know as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John that are found toward the end of the Bible in the New Testament. These letters were written in about 100 AD or CE or about 70 […]