Editorials, Food for Thought

A Little Good News

Isaiah 10 was probably written sometime during the Assyrian invasion of ancient Judah and the siege of Jerusalem in 701 B.C. In order to understand the national mood of Judah, compare it with how any modern-day nation has felt as its lands have been overtaken by hostile armies.

It would not be unlike the occupation of France by Germany, the deportation of the Jews to Holocaust camps, the bombing of Iraq, or the genocide in Darfur. Pick any country whose people are displaced, killed, stolen from, suffering famine, or otherwise suffering mistreatment, and you will get the picture. Continue reading A Little Good News →

Editorials, Food for Thought, theology

An Ancient Warning

Amos was an ancient prophet writing in the 8th century to an Israel that had become corrupt, self-satisfied, and indifferent. During his reign, Israel’s wicked king, Jereboam II, seized political opportunity to gain control of trade routes and create commercial prosperity. His action created a wealthy class living in great luxury. Exploitation of the poor and other excesses were the byproduct of his corrupt rule. Continue reading An Ancient Warning →

Life in general, sermons

Thanksgiving

Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds. ~Theodore Roosevelt

I recently remarked to my postal person that virtually none of the mail we receive today is personal; almost all comes with a digitally created label on the envelop and some sort of form inside.

Rare, indeed, is the handwritten post. Continue reading Thanksgiving →

Editorials, sermons

The Lectionary

A lot of people, when asked, “Do you know what the lectionary is?” say, “Huh?”

A lection is an orderly set of readings. Most of the time the word “lectionary’ is used in regard to the Bible, and it’s practice began sometime in the Middle Ages when the Jews sought to add some direction to the random synagogue readings of scripture.

By the time of Jesus, the Jewish lectionary was in full flower, and when Jesus read publicly in the Nazareth synagogue it was probably the prescribed reading for the day. Continue reading The Lectionary →

sermons, theology

The Sufficiency of Jesus

A friend of mine commented recently that she had not been taught a great deal about the nature of Jesus even though she had grown up in a church community. It’s a curiosity that one could grow up in a culture and not know what the bedrock of its beliefs are, but it’s common.

There was an first century church community that had similar problems, exaggerated by persecutions they were experiencing. The message that a writer sent to them was, “Don’t give up.” But they had to have a reason not to give up. That is the basic idea behind the New Testament book of Hebrews. Continue reading The Sufficiency of Jesus →

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