20–26 January 2019. Matthew 13:36–58 (click to read). At the very end of John’s gospel, the disciples sit by the sea with the resurrected Jesus and eat breakfast together. During that meal, Peter quietly approaches Jesus and tries to ask questions about one of the other disciples (21:20–23). But Jesus immediately stops Peter and, in […]
13–19 January 2019. Matthew 10:1–20 (click to read). When new Christians come to the faith and join the church, they are so excited to be part of a new family of sisters and brothers, to be part of a loving and supportive community that follows Jesus’s command of love. While it’s truely great and wonderful […]
6–12 January 2019. Matthew 5:1–20 (click to read). Ever since the ancient days of the Old Testament, followers of God have known that they cannot simply open up scripture and immediately understand the will of God. Scripture needs to be interpreted, and wise teachers are needed for that. In Nehemiah 8:8 we see how Ezra […]
30 December 2018 – 5 January 2019. Hebrews 12:1–13 (click to read). When we look back over the past year we see that there have been good times but also difficult times – times of stress, sadness, and even suffering. Hebrews 12 talks about the way suffering can be used by God the Father to discipline […]
23–29 December 2018. Hebrews 5 (click to read). From the perspective of organized religion, Jesus and Paul – the two greatest people in the New Testament – are both controversial figures. Paul was the greatest theologian of the early church, the one who shaped the beliefs and doctrines of all Christianity and put the church on […]
16–22 December 2018. Ecclesiastes 10 (click to read). The Bible talks a lot about the importance of wisdom. And many of us really do appreciate just how valuable wisdom is. Sometimes we even sit back confidently and think how wisdom has a great power to shape our world and our lives. But sadly, the situation […]
9–15 December 2018. Ecclesiastes 3 (click to read). Sometimes we find ourselves in a moment when everything is just perfect. Our plans have worked out, we have reached that goal we were after, we are together with the person we love, and our lives feel full of hope and peace. When that happens, we just […]
2–8 December 2018. Psalm 87 (click to read). Psalm 87 is one of the so-called “Songs of Zion”, hymns that praise Zion (another name for Jerusalem) for its role in God’s work of ruling and blessing the world. Jewish scholars tell us that Psalm 87 may have been sung by pilgrims on their yearly journey […]
25 November – 1 December 2018. Psalm 80 (click to read). When things go wrong in our lives, we often want to know why. Why did it happen? And if God really loves us, why didn’t he protect us? The problem is that there are no easy answers to this “why” question. Maybe that’s why […]
18–24 November 2018. Psalm 74 (click to read). Sometimes one of the hardest things about being a parent is not giving our children the things they want. Because we love our children, we want them to be happy. But sometimes the things that little children want just aren’t good for them. They want to eat […]