Tag: identity
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The Dead Eat
Psalm 114; 1 Corinthians 5:6b–8; Luke 24:13–49 Those guys (and women) didn’t know what they were talking about! Really? The tomb is empty, and you think he’s alive? A vision of an angel? Really? God doesn’t do that anymore. The Resurrection just happened mere hours before and the questions are already flying. Those 2 disciples…
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No Name
Proverbs 8:1–2; Mark 3:13–19 Many people have had nicknames growing up. Some of them were insulting. Some of them were just strange. Others were relating an individual to something else. Others were shortening of a proper name of the person. “Captain” was sometimes used in my childhood (thank you, Star Trek). Ian is pretty hard…
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Abandon Ship
Jonah 3:1–5, 10; 1 Corinthians 7:29–31; Mark 1:14–20 Jonah may have been the most successful preacher in history. He preached and an entire city repented, and a large city, at that. The church celebrates 4000 in one day as a supreme act, yet cranky Jonah exceeded that by far. We often question and scorn Jonah…
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Path Lighting
Joshua 4:1–7; Joshua 8:30–35; Proverbs 27:17 What do you remember? What “traditions” or practices do you remember from your childhood? What did that teach you? Over the years, the church universal developed many practices to teach the faith to its people. It often had a hard journey, as it had to teach people from varying…
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Peace-Filled Traditions
Matthew 15:1–9; Luke 11:42–46 Yesterday (or the weeks prior to it), all Americans had the opportunity to participate in a great tradition…voting. Regardless of whether your candidates won or lost, there is something great in this tradition. People choosing their leaders is a great gift, and should not be squandered. As Halloween and All Saints’…
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Saintly Ones
Matthew 5:1–16; Revelation 7:1–17 ※ Q: What is a Saint? ※ You would think that this question is easy. However, the meaning of saint depends on the context and even timeframe. Chasid (חָסִיד) and Kaddish (קַדִּישׁ) are the Hebrew words that are most often translated as saint (not always, though). Chasid (חָסִיד) means faithful or…
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Circle Mission
Acts 16:11–15; Acts 16:25–40 Rob Wegner states that a missionary is an ordinary person who’s equipped to make new disciples in a new context, and that mission isn’t first an activity, it’s an identity. How does that apply to Lydia? She has three circles. The first circle is the (Gentile) God-fearing circle. The second is…