Words of Welcome

Job 38:1-7, 34-41 Job wanted his day in court because, if, as his friends alleged, his own sins caused him to suffer, then he wanted to see the evidence. Since Job wouldn’t admit to anything, one of his so-called friends, a man named Elihu, decided to take a different approach. Rather than blame Job, Elihu told Job to quit questioning God because God is too busy and important to bother with Job and his problems. After all, Job should consider the “wondrous works of God.” Just look around at creation because when you take in the grandeur of creation, you’ll realize how small you really are in the grand scheme of things. (Job 37:14, 23 ).   I get Elihu’s point about the wonder of the creation. Cheryl and I recently visited the Upper Peninsula. We took a boat trip out along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and took in Tahquamenon Falls, among other points of interest. Scenes like this produce a sense of awe at the wondrous works of God and you realize how big the universe...

Matthew 28:16-20 Today is, according to the church calendar, Trinity Sunday. On the matter of the Trinity, Disciples of Christ are not of one mind. Thomas and Alexander Campbell were Trinitarians, and Barton Stone was not. One of our important second generation Disciple leaders was  Isaac Errett,  who served as pastor of the Jefferson Avenue and Beaubien Street Church in Detroit during the 1860s. He wrote a pamphlet titled Our Position. In that pamphlet he wrote that while Disciples accept the biblical statements about the “trinity of persons in the Godhead, we repudiate alike the philosophical and theological speculations of Trinitarians and Unitarians, and all unauthorized forms of speech on a question which transcends human reason, and on which it becomes us to speak ‘in words which the Holy Spirit teaches’” [ Historical Documents Advocating Christian Union ,  pp. 297-298].  In other words, we’re going to stick with Bible terms! Of course there are some amon...

Peter Bruegel, "The Wedding Dance," DIA Ephesians 1:3-14 During this season of Epiphany we’ve been reflecting on our “God-Talk.” Even though our words are inadequate to the task, we do speak about God.  We use metaphors and analogies and stories to give voice to what lies beyond human understanding. We are like Peter, who came up to Jesus after watching him being  transfigured on the mountain and offered to set up tents for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. He made this offer because “he did not know what to say.”   Can you identify with Peter?  Do you find it difficult knowing what to say about God?  And yet, we do speak of God.  We speak of God the creator, the God who is love, the God who judges, and the God who saves. As Christians we often point to Jesus and say, whoever God is, God is like Jesus!  That is why most Christians use the word Trinity to speak of the God whom we experience in Christ and through the presence of the Holy Spiri...

Luke 2:41-52     Oh, how they do grow up!  They start out as cute little babies, but before you know it, they’re twelve, and that original cuteness has begun to wear off.  12-year-old kids are liable to speak their minds – even to their parents.  So, would it surprise you to learn that Jesus is no different?     When last we gathered on Thursday Evening, we found Jesus lying in a manger, surrounded by proud parents and some rather dirty shepherds.  We filled the night with carols, such as O Come all Ye Faithful , the First Noel, and Silent Nigh t.  We sang songs of joy and thanksgiving to the one lying in that manger, all wrapped up in swaddling clothes.  Yes, along with the angels and the shepherds, we sang:       “Infant Holy, Infant Lowly, for his bed a cattle stall;     Oxen lowing, little knowing, Christ the babe is Lord of all.”  These much beloved songs project an image of ...