I have always been fascinated with what Jesus was asking of his disciples in these passages. He was asking them to travel around Galilee sharing his very controversial message openly to all who would listen and to bring nothing with them for the journey. They were not to bring water, food, a change of clothing, … [Read more…]
On the surface you may be asking why these two stories are intertwined and what the meaning of these stories is. But the story of the daughter of Jairus and the bleeding woman are about what it takes to have faith. In life, it is hard to not become cynical about the world around us. … [Read more…]
Have you ever felt as if your courage and strength may not hold up to some of the challenges of life? Sometimes we get frustrated with life and things seem too hard to be done. I remember the first sermon I ever preached. I was 18 years old. I was petrified of preaching. I was … [Read more…]
When I was a child, I really wanted to get the toy in the Fruity Pebble’s box. It was a silly little ink stamp in the shape of a dinosaur. So I very publicly announced “Dibs” on the stamp, which with my brothers had always been their way of laying claim to something they want. … [Read more…]
As Christians, we very rarely speak of the importance of Sabbath rest and what it really means. And I have spent the past week reflecting upon how other peoples honor Sabbath rest. My father-in-law’s family, who range from conservation to orthodox Jews, takes very seriously the notion of Sabbath. On the Sabbath my husband’s uncles … [Read more…]
You ever stand in an excited crowd and just feel overwhelmed by the emotions of the mob? You might know me to be a Boston Red Sox fan but my husband is a diehard Yankee fan. Every year we make a pilgrimage to Yankee Stadium to see a game each summer. There is nothing quite … [Read more…]
What are the first things that come to mind when you hear the word covenant? You probably were not thinking about lent, learning, or fun and interesting. Yet as we can see in the Bible covenant is very important and appears from the book of Genesis all the way through the book of Revelations. One … [Read more…]
Our experiences of the transformative power of the Holy are often few and far between. In the Bible, many of those transformative experiences happen at special places and often on mountain tops as with the transfiguration, Moses’ encounter with God that gave the law, and Noah’s landing with the arc on Mount Ararat, to name … [Read more…]
Have you ever watched the tele-evangelists? When I was in graduate school there were many nights where I couldn’t sleep. So I would get up put on a coat and walk to the student lounge and watch TV. I had the keys to everything on the campus so I could let myself in anywhere I … [Read more…]
How important are credentials to you? How might you feel going in for surgery and finding out that the person doing the surgery was self taught? When I was a teenager, I had a huge fear of needles and blood work. I had to go to Yale Medical Center to get some blood work and … [Read more…]
