There’s a whole bunch of “if”s in our epistle reading today: IF we have died with him, we will also live with him; IF we endure, we will also reign with him; IF we deny him, he will also deny us; IF we are faithless, he remains faithful-- for he cannot deny himself. (2 Tim 2:11-13) The structure of this reading makes us think that the IFs are important, but I think what is most
Sermons
In Luke, chapter 6, verse 24, we hear, “Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.” So goes the story of the rich man in today’s Gospel reading. He should have known better. He could have – and should have – done better. He received good things, but he built up treasures for himself instead of being rich towards God. You’ll recall that last week’s Gospel
Bleeech! We’ve entered that time in the church year where I dislike preaching, because it seems like all we hear about in the Gospel reading is money, money, and more money. I guess it’s better than having to preach about divorce or circumcision… but still, I don’t like it. And since I don’t like it, it usually means that it’s a quicker sermon. So perhaps all of you do enjoy it. The
Last week, we heard from Paul’s Epistle to Philemon. This week, we get an Epistle to Timothy, also written from “Paul.” We’re going to start with a short Bible lesson this week. Of the thirteen letters that were traditionally attributed to authorship by Paul, scholars now think that only seven are authentically his: Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians,
Some of you may have heard the story of the wise woman’s stone: A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left,