Many of you will be familiar with the Serenity Prayer. It’s a beautiful prayer credited to the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. The prayer is as follows: God grant me the serenity to accept what I cannot change. God grant me the courage to change what I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Based on […]
Over the past two days, we’ve reflected on Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6, “You cannot serve two masters… You cannot serve both God and Money.” He also said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” This statement raises the question: Where are we investing our treasures? Because in […]
Yesterday we reflected on Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6, “You cannot serve two masters… You cannot serve both God and Money.” However, it is not that money is bad. It’s not. You probably have heard people misquote the Bible when they say, “Money is the root of all evil.” The Bible […]
In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6, Jesus said, “You cannot serve two masters. You will either hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” Money is not an easy topic. But it is relevant! It affects […]
In the book of Exodus, chapter 16:9–15, the Israelites are complaining about the lack of food in the wilderness. They long to go back to Egypt—perhaps forgetting that’s where they had been enslaved. It is striking how their anxiety completely distorts the memory of the recent past. Egypt was known to be a place of […]
Today is All Saints’ Day. It is a day we remember that we are a part of a much larger family. This is a family that stretches around the globe here and now, today. It is also a family that includes those across the span of time who have put their faith in Christ. And […]
Psalm 30 reads in part: Sing praises to the Lord, O you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name. I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up… I cried to you for help, and you have healed me… …you brought up my soul… and restored me… These verses […]
In the gospel of Matthew (21:28–32), Jesus tells a parable about two sons. The father asks the first son to come to the vineyard to work. The son answers straightforwardly, “No, sir. I’m not going to do it.” But later the son changes his mind and goes to work. The father approaches the second son […]
There is a story about a father walking along the beach with his son. The boy asked his dad about the sermon they heard last Sunday morning. The boy said, “Dad, I can’t understand how Jesus can live in us and we live in him at the same time.” As they continued down the beach, […]
I remember hearing a pastor offer a children’s sermon one morning years ago. He brought in a rule book from a board game, and he said that the Bible is like this, a kind of rule book. The analogy didn’t sit well with me. It felt like a reduction. The scriptures were written by people […]
