Hope That Breaks Chains
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:16–22 The people of God have always been an expectant people — a people called to live a life of faithful waiting, consciously blessing and seeking the good, not just of themselves, but of others, even those who would be enemies. This reality gives us hope, because we know that there is something bigger going on. Hope is the...
Read MorePrepare The Way — (and join us this Saturday)
The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way” — “a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.” Mark 1:1-3 Advent is a season of preparation, both personal and corporate. The people of God have always been shaped by what God has already done and by the expectation and anticipation of what he has promised to do in the future. This expectancy gives us hope, joy and the ability to live a life marked by...
Read MoreAdvent: Keep Watch
But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake. Mark...
Read MoreYet Another Dead Man of Color
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amos 5:22–24 This past Sunday at Creekside I said that the Kingdom of God is seen in the spaces where what God wants done is done. When God talks about what this looks like, he very often talks about justice. Throughout the pages of scripture God...
Read MoreGod Calls Women To Lead
Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment. Judges 4:4–5 Have you spent much time reading the book of Judges? Most people haven’t. It is tucked away in a kind of in between time in the life of Israel. It contains odd stories, a similarly repetitive book, the story of the time after Moses and Joshua where though they had promised to do otherwise, the people of God turned away from him to worship other,...
Read MoreGotta Serve Somebody
“Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:14–15 Joshua’s challenge to the people of Israel is one of the more well known lines of scripture. We often let the familiar pass us by...
Read MoreIf God Did Not Go With You
“Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” And the LORD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” Exodus 33:15–17 God told Moses that he would deliver the people of God to the Promised Land as he had promised — but he would not go with them. Moses responded quickly and clearly,...
Read MoreAre You Really Free?
“We know that ‘An idol is nothing at all in the world’ and that ‘There is no God but one.'”1 Corinthians 8:4 How do you react when a good thing is jeopardized, blocked or taken away? The answer to that question — not in general but in the specifics of your life — will unveil the things that have more power over you than you want them to, the things that actually take the place of God, your functional saviors, the idols in your life. Think of a good thing in your life? It could be anything. Start with answering: “what is most important to me in my life?” (you...
Read MoreTwo Strands of a Full Life
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:28–31 Jesus captures the heart of the 10 Commandments. They are not meant to be simply...
Read MoreYour Life of Confident, Relaxed, Peace (seriously, your life)
“Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?” Exodus 17:5–7 The people of God thirsted and God provided. In between they grumbled, complained and questioned weather or...
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