Intersections

     Last week, we were with Peter while he and some other disciples are in court for preaching and teaching the Gospel. The Sanhedrin wanted to quash this new movement that has started with Jesus, so they are trying to root them out and silence them.       We come this week to a familiar passage, the conversion of Saul. The whole story continues from our passage today until verse 20, and I encourage for you to read the rest of it some time this week. It’s only another… fifteen verses or so, pretty easy.       Now, our main character this week is Saul. He’s what some may call a pretty bad hombre. He was a Pharisee, and was introduced in chapter 8 as the one who approved of the apostle Stephen’s killing, which he also witnessed. That’s kind of his background right now at the beginning when it says “STILL threatening and plotting against the disciples”, like a bull in a china shop, or a rabid animal after its prey. His story continues...

      I know we’ve been in dealing with the Corinthian church for the last month or so, and there was a possibility of continuing that through Paul’s second letter, but… given that we are pushing into Lent later this week, maybe it’s time to get back to the gospels. I set the theme of “Love Never Ends” and this is the last week for that series, and it may seem that this is a strange scripture to end on, but hopefully I can tie it up nicely. The theme throughout our scriptures in the series has been about how community matters - people matter - and that we individuals are part of a whole. Even last week with Willie preaching, his focus was on how the scouts (Boy, Girl & Cub) were another venue, like church, for teaching our young ones how to live in a community, and what kind of rules we should follow. It might even be fitting that the last sermon in our series would be something about how love is consistent and unchanging; that God’s love is the same yesterday, t...

  Love - I know it may feel like a couple weeks early, but love is in the air today. Our passage is one of the most well-known excerpts from the New Testament and Paul’s writing. If you’ve been to a wedding, most likely you’ve heard some bit of this. It’s hard to dismiss love at a wedding, right? I’m not sure Paul would agree using this text at a wedding ceremony is appropriate, but we’ll get into that later. I’m sure I could make a whole series of this one chapter, but I promise to get you out of here in a reasonable amount of time for lunch, if you’re worried about that. Who thinks there should be more love in the world today? Show of hands…. Don’t be shy. Many, if not all of you… right? We look around at our world, and we don’t see that there’s enough love, that people aren’t acting with love. Is love an action? Or is it just a feeling? We have countless bits of movies and television showing what love is from just about every possible angle. But what’s the most truest love? We g...

  Good morning again - last week, we talked through the first chapter of the Book of John, how the light of Christmas was lit and that lighthouses can help guide those in danger away from it.  This week, we’ve looped back around a couple of weeks because we are back talking about John the Baptist, continuing the story from… three weeks ago, I think? Hopefully, you’re not sick of John yet, although this is the last week we will be in the gospels for a while. Anyway - as you can see outside, the seasons are changing. Winter is here! Oh… no … not those seasons. Our season of Christmas has finished, and now we are in the season after Epiphany. We are back to those so-called “ordinary weeks” or numbered weeks because since we’ve celebrated Christmas and Epiphany, these are kind of the meat and bones weeks for Jesus’ actual ministry. Today we’ll be starting with his baptism, and over the next couple of months, we’ll be discovering being the body of Christ: how we can show that LOVE...

  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I'm glad you didn't get too lost last week, because it seems as most of you have found your way back here. I appreciate that! Welcome to the last Sunday of Christmas this year, and this is day seven for those who are counting. Watch out for any swans you come across, hopefully they’re all swimming.  Speaking of swimming, I know these days it’s too cold to go swimming, but just know that out of the darkness, the light is increasing and spring and summer days will be here soon! Did you know that Indiana has lighthouses? Two of them, in fact. You really don’t think Indiana as much of a state that would have any lighthouses, but yeah - two of them, both on Lake Michigan. I’ve seen one of them - the one in Michigan City. The other one is closer to Chicago near Gary. But aren’t lighthouses kind of incredible? Someone had the idea that to keep the ships safe, even in the waters of Lake Michigan, that there needed to be big lights to help direct...

  Here we are, one week closer to Christmas. Hope you are starting your preparations well. Who is done with their shopping? For the first time in a long time, I think we are done, if not very close to being totally done with our preparations in our own home. Our tree is up, and decorated, even if our cat likes to nibble at the branches at the bottom. The outside lights are up, and we even have a spotlight for our garage that has various snowflake shapes in it. We were gifted it from my mother-in-law last year, and it ended up in the garage, but somehow got moved (let’s be honest, I was probably the culprit of that) and so it fell BEHIND some of the shelving, and behind a piece of plywood on the floor. Thankfully, Tadjena is amazingly thorough and relentless, so she was able to find it after looking for what feels like two weeks. So - yeah - we’ve gone through our to do list, and making sure it’s getting done, and with that comes a sense of peace. Are you one who really likes being ...