July 2025

July 27, 2025. Texts: Genesis 18:20-32; Colossians 2:6-15 [16-19]; Luke 11:1-13.   It comes down to this. Our time together is up. Of all the possible things to say, what should the last thing, the last word, be? It turns out that some habits are hard to break. In this case, it is the habit of […]

July 20, 2025. Texts: Genesis 18:1-10a; Colossians 1:15-28; Luke 10:38-42.   Long ago human eyes watched clear nights unfold on a beautifully velvet dark canvas, so filled with stars and planets that it is beyond our imagining. Those same eyes observed a landscape which provided everything necessary for acquiring food, shelter, clothing, tools and medicine. Those

July 13, 2025. Texts: Deuteronomy 30:9-14; Colossians 1:1-14; Luke 10:25-37.   If all Jesus came to say was “be nice to each other” then, really, his whole trip to the cross was pretty unnecessary, don’t you think? And yet, somehow, this is where the story of an unfortunate man who was robbed, assaulted and left for

July 6, 2025. Texts: Isaiah 66:10-14; Galatians 6:[1-6] 7-16; Luke 10:1-11, 16-29.   If there is a byword for this week’s lessons, perhaps it is “on the way”.  Call it a slogan or a meme if you prefer. It’s not just a bible thing though. Because a lot of things happen, and maybe nearly everything in

June 29, 2025. Texts: 1 Kings 19:15-16, 19-21; Galatians 5:1, 13-25; Luke 9:51-62.   In the wee hours of a February morning in Loveland, Colorado a pickup truck slid off the road. The police arrived on the scene, found the driver uninjured and determined that a slick, dark, tarry substance had caused the wreck. Immediately they

June 22, 2025. Texts: Isaiah 65:1-9; Galatians 3:23-29; Luke 8:26-39.   The season of Pentecost, which we have now officially entered, is long. This year it will last for twenty-three weeks. Take that in for a moment. It will be late November before this season gives way to the next one. This is a prolonged and

June 15, 2025. Texts: Proverbs 8: 1-4, 22-31; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15.   In AD 325, exactly 1,700 years ago, Christian leaders from Eastern and Western provinces were called together for a confab by the Roman Emperor Constantine. The empire was on its way to adopting Christianity as its official religion. But there was a problem.

June 8, 2025. Texts: Genesis 11:1-9; Acts 2:1-21; John 14:8-17 [25-27].   Is it possible that there was ever a time or place on the face of the earth when someone in authority did not have to say, this is for your own good? Surely this phrase or some variation of it exists in every language.

June 1, 2025. Texts: Acts 16:16-34; Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21; John 17:20-26.   Airports are buzzing, Ferries are full. The inns have no more room. It’s the time of year when you are most likely to hear the plaintive question, “are we there yet?” Today is the seventh and final Sunday of Easter. According to tradition,

May 25, 2025. Texts: Acts 16:9-15; Revelation 21:10, 22 – 22:5; John 14:23-29.   Divine inspiration or desperation? Inquiring minds want to know. Paul had a vision during the night. Was it the Holy Spirit or indigestion? After all, Paul had just come from a difficult personal management situation with Barnabas, another leading evangelist. They’d disagreed