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Biblical Reflection on Immigration and Our Response
I’ve been listening a lot to the debate over immigration. Whether we’re talking about the laws of the United States, border enforcement, supporting other countries to make immigration less attractive, what to do with people (adults and children) who are already in the United States, the effects on the economy, politics, safety/security or any other…
Categories: Christianity
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Living the Third Testament – Part of the Vine & Bearing Fruit
It’s been a while since I’ve written, but I’ve been so moved personally by the fruit of my time in sermon preparation and the direction of our worship services since we completed our year using The Story. For a few weeks, we’re using Scriptures that help us live the “Third Testament” (we’ve studied God’s faithfulness and heard…
Categories: Devotion -
Devotion: C’mon out! The water’s getting hot!
You’ve heard the story about how to boil a frog … if you try to put a frog into boiling water, it will immediately jump out because it realizes that the water is too hot for it. However, if you put a frog in lukewarm water and gradually raise the temperature, by the time the…
Categories: Devotion -
Devotion: Moving On After Sin
Sin is not a great topic. To talk about sin is to necessarily raise our awareness of our own faults, where we have hurt people, and where we fall short. The reality is we all sin – we all fall short. It is our faith that makes a difference because it describes how we react…
Categories: Devotion -
Devotion: Extravagant Generosity
Vacation is not a luxury, but a necessity. Many of us keep such busy schedules that it’s hard to keep track of everything and hard to keep up. Rest and doing things that feed our souls can be pushed aside in favor of those more pressing things. As you may know, my family and I…
Categories: Devotion -
Devotion : Advent – Horizontal Relationships with Neighbors
Is our faith just about getting myself to heaven at the end of my life? Is it just about being “good enough” or being a “good person”? In the Adult Forum on Sunday, we were reviewing chapters 7-11 of The Story and got talking about heaven and salvation. We said that, in Lutheran theology, we…
Categories: Devotion -
Devotion: Advent – Vertical Relationship with God – part 2
I find images such as this one helpful not only for teaching about our relationship with God, but also as a way to remind me and direct my own relationship with God and the world. Last week, I wrote about the downward facing arrows – that they remind us that God has made the first…
Categories: Devotion -
Council Devotions – December 11, 2013
Council devotions for Wednesday, December 11, 2013 Chapter 51 1 “Listen to me, all who hope for deliverance— all who seek the Lord! Consider the rock from which you were cut, the quarry from which you were mined. 2 Yes, think about Abraham, your ancestor, and Sarah, who gave birth to your nation. Abraham was only one…
Categories: Uncategorized -
Blessing Bags and Other Ways to Serve
We have within us the desire to serve. Sometimes we don’t act on that desire because our schedules are so full of other things that we don’t leave room for chance encounters. Sometimes we don’t act because we don’t know what we can do. Here are “16 ways to serve in a snowstorm.” Back in…
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