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Human Things vs Divine Things

8/30/2020

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Human vs Divine Things
Romans 12:9-21, Gospel: Matthew 16:21-28 August 30. 2020
I want to start with a classic story I last shared 11 years ago, so most of you either haven't heard it or have forgotten it. It is about misunderstanding what is meant by certain terms. I tie it into the misunderstanding between Peter and Jesus as to what the term Messiah actually meant.
A minister's widowed wife was planning a week's vacation to another denomination's summer camp. But she, being a bit nervous about this solo trip and being prim and proper, worried about the bathroom facilities. So she wrote to request assurances that the facilities were clean, private and accessible. As she wrote, she felt the word toilet was a bit crude to write, so instead she used the term bathroom commode. But for her, even that sounded a bit forward, too, so after the first page she abbreviated it BC. “Does the cabin where I'll be staying have its own BC? If not, where is the BC located.”

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Witness

8/23/2020

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Exodus 1:8-2:10; Romans 12: 1-8; Matthew 16:13-20
August 23, 2020


The location of today's gospel story has special significance in how we relate the story to our lives today. Julie and I visited this site when we were in Israel. It is located near the border between Israel and Lebanon. At the time of Jesus, it was near an important trade route. It was much more a Gentile location than Jewish. In fact, it was a site that at an earlier time was dedicated to a Greek god, Pan, who was depicted as half human, while having the legs and horns of a goat. There are still signs of the cave they used for their worship services. ​

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The Case Against Religion

8/16/2020

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The Case Against Religion
Genesis 45:1-15, Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32 Matthew 15: 1-2, 10-20, 7-9​

A leading theologian of the 20th century, and a man Pastor Truman highly respected, Karl Barth, wrote this about religion, “The message of the bible is that God hates religion.” Another theologian from that time period, Paul Tillich said this, “We are in permanent danger of abusing Jesus by stating that he is the founder of a new religion. (Jesus) frees us from religion. They make new religious laws; he overcomes the religious law.”
In our gospel lesson today, we get a picture of Jesus overcoming the law, or rather redefining the law to fit the true nature of God and God's love. 

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Get Off/On the Boat

8/9/2020

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Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28; Romans 9: 5-15, Matthew 14:22-33
August 9, 2020 in prayer garden


17 months ago, Julie and I were on a boat in the very sea where today's gospel story took place. As we've reported in Bible Study and other occasions, the sea of Galilee is not a massive body of water by any stretch of the imagination. But with that said, it is long and fairly narrow, set in kind of a valley which evidently allows the winds to create massive storms.
The day Julie and I sailed was beautiful. The sun was shining, there was a light breeze, the birds were singing... (a day like today?). We were out for a pleasure cruise; we had no destination in mind, we weren't fishing (although the crew threw a net over the side of the boat as a demonstration), and our boat was bigger and probably sturdier that what the disciples were crossing in.  ​

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