Our texts for Sunday, February 28, take us across the expanse of human time and right in to God’s perspective on history.Genesis 15 tells us of the covenant God cut with Abraham. God promised to bless all nations through Abraham and his descendants in Genesis 12. Abraham followed God and waited to see how this promise would be fulfilled. His trust brought him righteousness -- a right relationship

Texts: Isaiah 6:1-13, Psalm 138, Luke 5:1-11, 1 Corinthians 14:1-19Anytime we encounter the reality and presence of the living God, we are completely undone, aware of our own sinfulness and uncleanness in the light of his holiness and purity. Isaiah despaired in his vision of God in his manifest presence. It was only when an angel took a burning coal from the altar of the Lord and touched Isaiah's

Last Sunday, January 31, the text I preached was I Corinthians 13, “The Love Chapter.”One scholar said that this famous hymn in praise of love is ‘the greatest, strongest, deepest thing Paul ever wrote.’ It has a literary and rhythmic beauty and I thought it interesting that agape, which is the divine love this chapter refers to, was rare in Greek before Christians made it their characteristic

We have begun worship services on Friday Nights from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Good Shepherd. We meet first to share a simple meal of homemade soups (everyone brings to share), breads, and crackers from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. -- normally in the Fellowship Hall unless there is another booked event. The purpose is to establish real, caring relationships with each other, so, much time is spent conversing

Text: 1 Corinthians 12It was a joy to welcome Peter Habyarimana from Compassion International to speak with us. Paul asserts in his letter to the Corinthians describing the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-27) that we should have the same love and care for one another. If one member of the body suffers, all suffer. If one member is honored, all are honored. No one can say to another that they

Texts: Isaiah 62:1-5, Psalm 36:5-10, John 2:1-11, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11God's delight in his people is like that of a bridegroom's delight over his bride. In God's great plan of salvation, he will forgive his people, protect them, heal them, provide for them, restore them, reconcile them to each other, transform them to be righteous, honor them, exalt them above all nations, and make them to be a

Last week I was blessed to spend the 9:30 hour with the Jr. and Sr. high school classes. Since there was no agenda, I began with my own brief personal testimony and asked others to follow as they felt led. When one of the High School students described how exciting summer camp had been and how it had changed her life she surprised me with words that described what Good Shepherd means to so many who

Texts: Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72; Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12It is remarkable that three wise men, foreigners, from either Persia or Babylon, came to announce to God's people that their Messiah had been born.Only the wise men beheld the star and understood what it meant. How did they know the prophecies of Israel? Did the Babylonians learn the scriptures of the Jews, perhaps, when King Nebuchadnezzar

As we begin a new year, I would like to share a couple of hopes and joys.JOY #1We are starting the year 2010 with a surplus in the bank. This is remarkable, considering we were preparing ourselves for a serious short-fall and drastic actions beyond the normal improved management of finances, e.g., staff layoffs or staff hour reductions. It feels like the feeding of the 5000. When we gave joyfully

John’s Gospel brings a hard word to late first century Jews. God has kept God’s promises in Jesus the Messiah. It is a hard word because “He came to his own, and his own received him not” (John 1:10-11). The theme can be found in several places in John’s Gospel and explains his portrayal of conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees (see John 5:16ff, 8:48-59 and throughout). Writing after the

It was the night before Christmas ... I am writing this post just one hour before all of our Christmas Eve services (4p, 7p, 9p, and 11p). I caught myself thinking, phew, I will have survived another Christmas. All the gifts and groceries has been purchased, the house has been cleaned, the Christmas tree and decorations are up, family is visiting, plans and arrangements have been made, hospital

What are your Christmas food traditions?As a pastor, our family, has had to adapt our Christmas Eve family traditions to the life and schedule of Good Shepherd, since we hold Christmas Eve services at 4p, 7p, 9p, and 11p. My wife brings either a stew or fondue in a crock-pot at 5:30p -- something quick between services. Some years we have cheese (bread, vegetables), chocolate (strawberries, bananas),