-
E…A…S…T…E…R
As we prepare for Resurrection Sunday, what do you believe? Do you believe that Christ died on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins and then rose again on the third day? For me, this is what I believe and I will celebrate Easter this way: Those who believe in His Death and Resurrection have: Everlasting Live Jesus defeated death for all those who believe in Him. My home is not this earth…it is in heaven with Him forever. Those who rejoice in His Death and Resurrection have: …
-
Valentine’s Day–What’s the Mark of True Love?
How real is love? Valentine’s Day is a good time to assess how much we love both our significant others and our God. The definitive mark of true love is willing sacrifice. Every relationship has some element of sacrifice, but what’s the attitude behind it? Is it out of coercion, a sense of “ought,” or joy? The depth of God’s love for us is marked by the willingness of Jesus, God himself, to come to earth, become man, live among us, and die a cruel death on the cross carrying the ugliness of our sins and those of the world. “For this is the way God loved the…
-
The Polarities of Advent
The polarities of good and evil erupt in the larger metanarrative of salvation history – creation, fall, redemption, new creation. The birth of Christ, a hugely joyous occasion to celebrate, is followed by His death and suffering – the whole reason the baby is born. Other polarities surface: the cost of leaving heaven and entering fallen earth; Mary’s delight of being chosen by God to carry His Son and a tarnished reputation; the worship of the Christ Child by the humble shepherds and wise men from the East and the wailing of the murder of all baby boys under 2 years old as ordered by the paranoid and evil king…
-
Time to Take Inventory?
Imagine you’ve invited all your relatives and neighbors to a banquet. Instead of serving turkey or ham with pie for dessert, what would happen if you emptied the garbage onto the table where the platter of meat goes? And after that, what if you told your guests to “dig in”? Think they’d like it? Think they’d say, “What a fine feast—let’s invite the president next year”? What would your actions say about how much you regarded your guests? We wouldn’t think of treating other humans that way, yet these actions come close to those of the children of Israel during the prophet Malachi’s lifetime. They offered their wilted stuff…
-
Offering Time at The Rose of Sharon Church, Ktado, Kabwe, Zambia
She could hardly move, the bent over elderly woman whose hip had thrust its way so out of joint that she needed a cane to walk. Even then she could only inch her way forward. It was offering time at the Rose of Sharon Church in Kabwe, Zambia; the band was playing as the singers told of Elijah and the coming of salvation and how Jehovah saves. The offering basket is not passed among the people in most African churches. Instead they stream forward to put their contributions in at the front of the church, and that’s the way it is at the Rose of Sharon Church…
-
Our Freedoms
Today, many Americans will grill burgers, eat red, white and blue cake, watch fireworks and maybe even a parade. Today is a day of celebration in the U.S.A. We celebrate our independence from Great Britain since 1776. As Americans, we are grateful for the freedoms we have because of the great work and sacrifices of others. And yet so many live without even a fraction of our freedoms. So many in the world live without the freedom to speak, the freedom to learn, the freedom to travel, the freedom to worship, the freedom to choose work, the freedom to eat and on and on. So many live in slavery of…
