Text: Nehemiah 13:1-3 This Sunday precedes our national holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and we will be looking at a very racist text in the book of Nehemiah. It concludes with the words, “When the people heard the law, they separated from Israel all those of foreign descent.” That strategy would be difficult today given that most of us, with the exception of Native Americans, are of foreign descent. I heard a story the other day about a…
Text: Luke 3:7-16 This Sunday is Baptism of Our Lord Sunday. That Christ would be baptized might seem a paradox since the church has long emphasized that adult baptism is meant for remission of past sins and that Christ was said to be born without sin. However, by humbling himself and being baptized by John the Baptist, Christ is seen taking on the sins of others and giving his followers a model to replicate. This act was necessary not for…
Text: Matthew 2:1-15; Galatians 3:28 This Sunday we are looking at the traditional story of the three Wise Men visiting Jesus, and how this is seen as the first step in Jesus’ mission being spread to all races, cultures, and nationalities of the world. But our interest is in the role and impact of labels that we wear. Labels can be helpful. Wearing the label “senior citizen” allows me certain discounts, a special VIA bus card, automatic mail-in ballots, and…
Text: Luke 2:38 “Coming up at that very moment, she returned thanks to God: and she talked about the child to all who were looking for the liberation of Jerusalem.” In December of 1945 a new gospel (the Gospel of Thomas) was discovered buried in an ancient gnostic library near Nag Hammadi, Egypt. Some folks went nuts over this “new” gospel with its unknown sayings and descriptions of Jesus’ life. The church was accused of hiding the truth about Jesus…
