Genesis 22:1-14 & Romans 6:12-23 Micah Bales This is a tough passage to preach on. It’s one of the most iconic stories of the Bible – the time that Abraham and Isaac went up to that mountain, and Abraham only thought only one of them was coming back. God told Abraham to take his…
Tag: Jesus
THREE. ONE.
Genesis 1:1-2:4, John 1:1-5, Psalm 8 Nathan Hosler A few weeks ago, I was waiting for a session of Christian Citizenship Seminar to start. We were holding the event at a church downtown but the door was still locked and they didn’t have any bench or place to sit, so I sat on the front…
FERVENT WAITING
Psalm 47; Luke 24:44-53; Acts 1:1-14 Jenn Hosler Last Saturday, Nate and I celebrated eleven years of marriage. Eleven seems crazy, sounds like a long time, but when I think about it, it has indeed been long since the days when we needed to part for summer vacations in college. Before we were married, Nate…
UNKNOWN AND UNSEEN
Acts 17:22-31, John 14:15-21 Jeff Davidson Today’s reading from Acts is about Paul’s visit to Washington, DC. Okay, it’s not about Paul’s visit to Washington, DC – but it could be. Let’s set the scene and step back to a few verses before our Scripture reading begins. Paul is in the Greek city of Athens…
FINDING THE WAY
1 Peter 2:2-10 & John 14:1-14. Micah Bales I love our gospel reading this morning. I think that the reason I love it so much because I used to despise it. As a skeptical young person growing up in Kansas, this passage from John was one of the Scriptures most often used as a weapon…
WHO ARE “ALL”?
Matthew 25:37-40, Acts 2:42-47 Faith Westdorp In today’s reading we see the beginnings of the first church. Matt Skinner writes that this passage “describes a community of faith that operates in the power of God’s Spirit. The virtues of justice, worship, and mutuality are not accomplishments of extraordinary folk; they are signs of the Spirit…
YEARNING FOR SUNDAY
John 20:1-18, Romans 6:1-14 Jenn Hosler A Saturday Vignette At the end of the meal, one of us stepped out. Judas was often heading in and out, so I assumed it was something with his duties as the keeper of the common purse. We didn’t think anything of it, I guess, but I wondered a…
THERE WILL BE NO TOMAHAWK MISSILES IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD
Philippians 2:5-11 & Matthew 21:1-11 Micah Bales Our gospel reading this morning is about Jesus’ triumphal entrance into Jerusalem, just days before he would be arrested and executed. Jesus is riding on a donkey, and the people are all around him. There were massive crowds in town for Passover, and Jesus’ arrival in the city…
CIRCLES OF LIGHT
John 9:1-41, Ephesians 5:8-14 Jeff Davidson When I started working on this sermon I ran across this reflection from Dr. Rachael Keefe on her blog “Write Out of Left Field.” (https://rachaelkeefe.wordpress.com/) She’s writing in part about our gospel reading from John, and she says, “As for myself, I have been the recipient of social judgments….
What is the Spirit of Life?
Romans 4:1-5, 13-17, John 3:1-17 Micah Bales Throughout his ministry, Jesus speaks of a mystery that can only be described in parables and metaphor. We heard a lot of these last month as we went through the Sermon on the Mount together. Jesus tells us that we are the salt of the earth. We’re the…
Washington City Church of the Brethren 