ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGJune 7, 2021Prayer for the Week: You are the God of new beginnings, new possibilities, new life, new found hope. We worship in a spirit of gratitude, for no matter what we might face, you do not leave us in the solitude of our circumstance. Even when there is discouragement or pain, you do not forget us or bury us under the weight of guilt. You want
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGJune 6, 2021Scripture: John 11:7-8Then after this Jesus said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” Thought for the Day: This is part of what we know as the Lazarus Story. Jesus has received word that his friend Lazarus is sick, and the sisters
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGJune 5, 2021Scripture: Luke 18:1-5Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ For a while he refused; but later
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGJune 4, 2021Scripture: Luke 19:1-7Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGJune 3, 2021Scripture: Luke 12:1-2Meanwhile, when the crowd gathered by the thousands, so that they trampled on one another, he began to speak first to his disciples, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. Thought for the Day: All I can picture is a concert I
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGJune 2, 2021Scripture: Romans 8:38-39For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Thought for the Day: This past Sunday, I preached on an earlier section of chapter
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGJune 1, 2021Scripture: Jeremiah 31:29In those days they shall no longer say: “The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” Thought for the Day: Yesterday and today mark the 100th Anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre. Last night, I watched the PBS special to reeducate myself on the horrific events perpetrated against the Black community in a part of Tulsa, a
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGMay 31, 2021Prayer for the Week:When the grief refuses to subsideWhen the parades bring no comfortWhen the kind gestures do nothing for the painI pray for you, Lord God,To sit with meTo be my companion in the darknessTo be my friend who understandsWhen so few others can.I am thankful for Memorial Day,But I wish my family was notSo directly and personally involved.I wish this heartache on no
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGMay 30, 2021Scripture: Luke 8:43-44Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years; and though she had spent all she had on physicians, no one could cure her. She came up behind Jesus and touched the fringe of his clothes, and immediately her hemorrhage stopped. Thought for the Day: This is where hopelessness learns how it has no final authority in this
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGMay 29, 2021Scripture: Luke 8:1-3Soon afterwards Jesus went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who