Scripture: Jeremiah 39:18 – “For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but you shall have your life as a prize of war, because you have trusted in me, says the Lord.” (NRSVUE)   There are thousands of characters across the Bible, and a lot of them, especially those who don’t often get mentioned on Sundays, can escape our notice. One such character is Ebed-Melech the Cushite. He shows us how courage and compassion when it would have been easier just to i

Scripture: 2 Timothy 2:23 – “Have nothing to do with stupid and senseless controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.” (NRSVUE)   We live in muddy times. No matter what we do, it seems like we cannot avoid people who love stirring up trouble. This is true even in churches. We have this romanticized notion that in the earliest days when people still remembered walking with Jesus, all Christians lived in one accord.     But this was never true. There have always been disa

Scripture: James 1:6-8 – “But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the...

Scripture: Psalm 118:6 – “With the Lord on my side I do not fear. What can mortals do to me?” (NRSVUE)   As a pastor, I am familiar with...

Scripture: Jeremiah 10:23-24 – “I know, O Lord, that the way of humans is not in their control, that mortals as they walk cannot direct...

Scripture: Psalm 94:18 – “When I thought, ‘My foot is slipping,’ your steadfast love, O Lord, help me up.” (NRSVUE)   Last night at our...

Scripture: Jeremiah 13:23 – “Can Cushites change their skin or leopards their spots? Then also you can do good, who are accustomed to do...

Scripture: Philippians 2:27 – “He was indeed so ill that he nearly died. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, so...

Scripture: Jeremiah 12:2b – “…you are near in their mouths yet far from their hearts.” (NRSVUE)   Do all Christians love God? This seems...

Scripture: Luke 12:48b – “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required, and from the one to whom much has been...

Scripture: Luke 12:22 – “He said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your...

Scripture: Hosea 10:11 – “Ephraim was a trained heifer that loved to thresh, and I spared her fair neck, but I will make Ephraim break...

Scripture: Hosea 2:7 – “She shall pursue her lovers but not overtake them, and she shall seek them but shall not find them. Then she...

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 7:10 – “Do not say, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’ For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.”...

Scripture: Exodus 40:38 – “For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud   by night, before the eyes...

Scripture: 2 Samuel 21:19 – “Then there was another battle with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite...

Scripture: Revelation 18:9-10 – “And the kings of the earth... will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning; they...

Scripture: Zechariah 1:3b – “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord...

Scripture: Psalm 6:2-3 – “Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are shaking with terror. My soul...

Scripture: 1 John 2:7-8 – “Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning; the...