We do not know why God told Moses to raise up a bronze serpent on a pole, or how when people who had been bitten by a poisonous snake and they looked at this bronze snake, they were healed.

The book of Numbers does not explain it. The Gospel according to John, who uses this image, does not explain it. John just assumes people know the story that he is talking about.

We can speculate. We can infer. We can get creative. But we don’t know. Continue reading →

Philip and Nathanael are a study in contrasts. Jesus goes up to Philip and says, “Follow me.” And Philip follows him. Philip finds Nathanael and says, “I’ve found him! The one we have all been looking for. The one we have all been waiting for. The one who was promised. Jesus of Nazareth!”

And Nathanael says, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?!?”

What would it take for someone to come up to us and say “Follow me,” and we follow them? I cannot speak for you, but I confess I have a lot of that Nathanael mindset. “Really? You’ve got to be kidding me.” Continue reading →

We know about other valleys of shadows: valleys of the shadow of death: a diagnosis, brokenness in a relationship, loss of job, loss of hope.  Or maybe it is the shadow that death that comes as memory, as grief, that everything we see is shadowed by the loss we have known.

The traveler to Jerusalem knows about fear.  But instead of turning back, instead of arming themselves against their fear, they look up. They look up. They lift their eyes and they look up. Continue reading →

If a wife is to be as the church to Christ, shouldn’t the husband be like Christ to the wife. Christ did not hurt those he loved. He did not lord it over those he loved, but loved them as they are. He did not demand his feet be washed, but washed their feet. He did not kill them, but was willing to lay down his own life for theirs. He did not make the disciples his servants, but called them friends. Continue reading →

Grace and Peace to you this morning. Grace and Peace. (Sung) Didn’t my God deliver Moses from king Pharaoh? And didn’t he cool the fiery furnace for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? – “He Never Failed Me Yet,” Robert Ray You … Continue reading →

Grace and Peace to you this morning. Grace and Peace. Once to ev’ry man and nation Comes the moment to decide, In the strife of truth and falsehood, For the good or evil side; Some great cause, some great decision, … Continue reading →

Grace and Peace to you this morning. Grace and Peace. Grace is not fair. Grace. Is not. Fair. When do we first learn of fairness? As children, fairness is not rooted in equality, or in equity, or in justice. Fairness … Continue reading →