Today we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord.  The resurrection happened in a moment, yet for the last 2000 years, the church has been working out what it means.  The Gospels don’t immediately tell us what the Resurrection means.  In the account that we just heard,...

Our Prime Minister, our public health officials, our newspapers, our friends and family have left little space to think about little else: The world is sick.  Really sick. Uniquely sick.  I think that the story of Jesus’ response to the sickness of Lazarus might have s...

This was actually the lectionary text from last week, but I thought it would be good to hear from the woman at the well, because she’s been practicing social distancing for a while, and she’s got some tips we can all learn from.  Most of us have only been at it for a w...

Verse 1 in our passage today names how we have peace with God because we are considered part of God’s family not because of anything we have done or could do, but because of faith. Paul says we have peace with God through Jesus. Our world lately has not exactly been ch...

There are undoubtedly two verses that stood out for all of us as we heard this passage — verses 26-27, what Paul says about homosexual intercourse.  I think that I can safely speak for nearly everyone here and say that these verses raise concerns.  Yet the challenge is...

Who is Jesus and what does he have to do with the God of Israel?  Let’s not be too quick to answer that question.  Sometimes being able to quickly answer a question has drawbacks. It could means that we are no longer reflecting deeply on what the question is asking.  T...

Did you mean it?  I just read about the capital punishment of two individuals, said “This is the Word of the Lord,” and you responded “Thanks be to God.  Did you mean it?  This story doesn’t end with happily ever after.  No, rather we have two dead bodies on our hands....

In recent weeks as we’ve been reflecting on Scripture, we’ve been noting how often it’s possible to view Scripture through different perspectives or angles.  In any given passage, God can communicate to us on many different levels.  Often there is a main level on which...

Last week, we talked about people wearing multiple hats, and how its important to understand which hat someone’s wearing when you’re talking to them.  You might be talking to a person and their wearing their doctor hat one minute and their concerned parent hat the next...

Come and Die Matthew 24:36-44
Joe Ellis — December 1, 2019

I’d like to tell you something that’s good to keep in mind when you’re talking with Rayner. Like a lot of us in a small church, he wears a lot of different hats. So when you’re talking to Rayner, he might be wea...