Our Old Testament scriptures today are taken from the book of Ezekiel and it speaks to a culture whose main way of survival and livelihood was shepherding. You see the early Israelites were primarily nomads moving camp to where ever they could find pastures for their sheep and goats. Now I am not sure how … [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…]
The easiest time to have faith is when life is going as we would like it to go when everyone is healthy, happy, and we are successful. This is when we feel the graces of God the strongest. The hardest time to have faith is when everything is going wrong and life is just one … [Read more…]
When we think of change: whether it is in the world, our careers, or our personal lives, what comes to your minds? Change can be exciting but it can also be a time full of anxiety and dread for many. Change can be frightening because we can’t always predict what will come next or how … [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…]
Promise and hope is what the Lenten season is to lead us to with the Easter morning. We are promised paradise and we are given hope in the new life. What we experience here isn’t the only life that is offered to us. Through coming to understand the depth of the love Christ experienced for … [Read more…]
At our last Lenten Supper as we discussed Christ’s final words on the cross, one of the participants mentioned that when Christ said “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me”, that this showed Jesus’ humanity and suffering. I found that this stuck with me as it is something I have spent years pondering … [Read more…]
When you look at these crosses what images come to your minds? (show a series of different styles of crosses) They represent our faith and Christ’s sacrifice. They don’t represent the horrible form of execution that the cross actually was. They don’t represent death but rather they represent the life that Christ’s sacrifice brought to … [Read more…]
