Words of Welcome

  1 Peter 2:2-10 Perhaps you can remember picking teams for a PE class or some other athletic event. No one wants to be the last person chosen. It’s not a good feeling. However, it’s a different story if you’re among the first picks. Perhaps you watched or paid attention to last week’s NFL draft. The Lions took Right Tackle Blake Miller from Clemson with its first pick, but the first overall pick was quarterback Fernando Mendoza, formerly of the Indiana Hoosiers. While it is a great honor to be the first pick, it does come with certain risks. That’s because the team with the first pick had the worst record in the league the year before. So, sometimes it’s better to be drafted near the end of the first round, so you can go to a good team. Then there’s the final pick of the draft. They call this person “Mr. Irrelevant” because everyone assumes he won’t make it in the NFL. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule. Sometimes Mr. Irrelevant can go on to be a star, as is the case wi...

Living Stones by Hilda  1 Peter 2:2-10 What does it mean to be chosen?  Does it matter who does the choosing and when you get chosen? Some of us know the feeling of being the last one chosen for a team.  Perhaps you watched or at least paid attention to the recent NFL draft. In the NFL draft, the team with the league’s worst record goes first. So, the Cincinnati Bengals chose quarterback Joe Burrough to be the savior of their franchise. That’s a big load to put on the shoulders of a young quarterback, but it’s an honor to go first. For their part, the Lions got to pick third. Then there’s the last player chosen in the draft, who takes home the title of “Mr. Irrelevant.” The word “chosen” figures prominently in 1 Peter 2. Peter invites us to come to Jesus, the “living stone” that was rejected by humanity but is  “chosen and precious in God’s sight.” Later in the reading, Peter informs us that we are part of a “chosen race, a royal priesthood, ...

Hosea 11:1-11 Children will try the patience of their parents.  It’s simply inevitable.  Even Jesus caused his parents a few headaches – that is if Luke’s account of the family visit to Jerusalem can be believed.  I know that some people think their children are perfect, but this idea must be a figment of the imagination.  We might wish for the perfect child, but to this point no such child has emerged.   Because I’m both parent and child, I’ve had the opportunity to see the parent/child relationship from both sides.  I’ve tried the patience of my parents, and had my patience tried by my son. If you were to ask my mother, she would tell you that I was a wonderful child growing up.  But she would also be lying, because I wasn’t always a wonderful child.  Yes, if she were honest, she could tell you that I tried her patience on many an occasion. In a scene reminiscent of Luke’s story of Jesus getting left behind in Jerusalem...