My Father’s family is from Estonia, one of those little Baltic countries in Northern Europe. Short story is they fled Estonia after it was invaded by the USSR during WWII with my grandmother pregnant with my father. He was born in Europe and spent his first five years in a displaced persons camp in West Germany until coming over with... READ MORE >
During our Ministerial Lectionary Study, I reflected that the ‘church’ has jumped about 20 years into the future because of the pandemic. Many churches, especially smaller and rural, would have taken our time to do recorded, live, and Zoom services, and almost all are working on both in-person and online, “hybrid” they call it, as a regular thing. OMG, the... READ MORE >
Jesus was asked which was the greatest commandment, and he asked them what they thought. They replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This was given to Israel in the Pentateuch, the 5 books of Moses. We often... READ MORE >
When Jesus came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, he was greeted with great shouts of “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” “Hosanna” in Hebrew translates, “Save us!” The crowds were tired of Roman rule and oppression. There was always... READ MORE >
“Honor the Sabbath Day” is the shortened version of the Fourth Commandment. It is reinforced by the first creation story of God creating for six days and resting on the seventh. In Leviticus, this was taken very seriously that if you saw your neighbor working in the field on the Sabbath, you were obliged to kill him. Thankfully, Jesus came... READ MORE >
In Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, he starts out in talking about foolishness and wisdom. Comparing the wisdom of the world against the foolishness of God, Paul proclaims that he is a fool for Christ if being a fool means believing in resurrection and love. In our society, we have the two political sides calling the other... READ MORE >
