Intersections

     Destruction. That’s what awaited Jonah as he walked into the town of Nineveh. Nobody wants to be the bearer of that news! But he’d recently been through a rather traumatic event, and so there was no turning back from the task that he was told to do by God. I don’t want to get too deep into it, but how many times in the last ten-odd years have we heard that “The end of the world is coming!” The biggest of which I remember happened in 2012 because of the Mayan calendars, along with other conspiracy theories that there would be a collision of Earth with another planet, aliens arriving, and a bunch of other nonsense. But people were caught up in it! We don’t want to be the last ones at the end of the world, do we? Just because someone has personal convictions doesn’t mean that they have proof to back them up, right - I mean - there were movies made about this, and it just added to the anxieties people feel toward ancient prophecies. We’ve lived through the Y2K sca...

Some weeks, I can really get away with interpreting things, and giving you different perspectives on what the scripture is about. But this week- that skill seems to have been taken from me. There’s not much wiggle room in our text today for interpretation, no “high mountain” language where it could be looked at from different perspectives. Today, we’re given this selection that is pretty straightforward. If only the message was as easy to say as it is to interpret. Isaiah’s people are all about worship. They can’t wait to get into church. If only Isaiah knew how good he had it. They delight with the thought of God, and drawing nearer to Him. Here in our modern times, it doesn’t seem that our contemporary church can get that kind of excitement up for that, even at the holidays of Christmas and Easter! There’s so many other options, from coffee houses and bakeries, some people in the retail industries work, sports happen whether professional or kids, sometimes there are even practices o...

  It seems strange to be talking about “Making Change” by using the Old Testament. We’re New Testament people, right, and Jesus and the power of His Holy Spirit are the change agents in our lives. So? What’s with this message series rooted in the writings of Solomon? Well, think about it. In his day, Solomon was not only considered the wisest man in the world, but he was also the richest man in the world. I’ve always believed if we want to be successful in life, we should watch successful people. If you want to be good at basketball, watch what Michael Jordan does (well, maybe Steph Curry these days). We’ll probably never be NBA players, but we can learn from the best to make ourselves better. If it works that way in other areas of life, why not with our money. Solomon used his wisdom and increased his wealth. We ought to learn from him, and Solomon, in his collected wisdom says: Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything. 25 The generous will prosper; t...

Representative John Lewis, a towering figure for civil rights, coined the phrase "good trouble." This week's text says some wrongs need to be righted: there are systems, presumptions and prejudices, oppressive patterns, and economic cycles that are impossible to break out of without help. We are making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. What does that transformation look like?   Wait - you might be thinking that this is going to get political... No - don't worry. It might get political, but not in the way you think. At least - not in any more than I have been any other week. Isn't it political to call for the transformation of the world? Doesn't that cast a vision on how we want to live?  In that vision, do we sing about peace and stop studying war? Shall we pray about an end to hunger and living into God's abundance even here and now in our fruitful world? Who can we look to partner with?  These are questions to ask when ...

One of my favorite months of the year is here! May is my birth month and after the turbulent weather throughout April, hopefully it will stabilize and just keep getting warmer! Since the weather is getting nice outside, I know I’ll be rising up out of my chair and trying to get outside more often.   Rising up could just be the act of changing from a sitting position to a standing one. It could also mean asserting one’s rights against injustice. A third definition is that it could be coming together to support one another in a time of crisis.  The verse that I chose this from is Acts 9:40, where Peter is bringing Tabitha back from the dead and he says to her, in the King James’ version, “Tabitha, arise!” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up.  God wants us to be partners, not puppets. As much as our lives belong to God, we are working together for the glory of the Kingdom. We need to have a relationship to be partners though. Could you imagine h...