Tag: kingdom
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Seeing Well
We often will look back on our decisions as if we could have fixed them, or even with the assumption that we are wiser now than we were then. “Hindsight is 20/20,” is a pithy saying, but even our hindsight may only be slightly better than our foresight.
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Help Me Understand
Psalm 102:12–28; Job 6:1–13; Mark 3:7–12 The recent Super Bowl reminded me of the first Super Bowl victory of the Seattle Seahawks. Having grown up in the San Francisco Bay Area and experiencing the 49ers and the Raiders, a Super Bowl championship was exciting, but not region-stopping. Super Bowl XLVIII was a disappointment in gameplay,…
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Wolves Invisible
Psalm 62:5–12; Jeremiah 20:14–18; Luke 10:13–16 Do you know the story of “The Boy Who Cried, Wolf”? The shepherd boy who falsely cried “wolf” so many times that after some time no one would come to his aid. Of course, as the case with moral tales, the real wolves came, he cried “wolf”, and no…
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Flame Bright in the Dark
Matthew 25:1–13 The Nicene Creed (one of the statements of belief that cross all Christian denominations) is as follows (maybe even read it aloud): We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,…
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Joy in the Questions
“Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.”—Luke 1:38 (NRSV) When it comes time for the Advent season and thinking about the story of Christmas—Jesus coming to earth for all humankind…I often think of Mary and Joseph.…
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Power to…
Jeremiah 31:10–14; John 5:19–40 If you had the power to change anything and everything, would you? If you could eliminate war, disease, hatred, bigotry, misogyny…would you? If you could judge people perfectly…would you? The structure of the Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) is a conundrum. The Father is God; the Son (Jesus) is God; the…
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Kingdom Justice
Psalm 7; Revelation 19:1–9 “They got what they deserved.” We long for justice. In fact, much of the separation between political parties and people, in general, is defined by justice. When we look at emotionally charged issues such as racism, justice is often the biggest piece. The person negatively affected want to feel heard and,…