I was with my nephew as he experienced Home Alone for the first time recently. I was struck by how purely excited he seemed to be. I thought to my self, Man, I’d love to feel that again. But then I also thought, But we can’t stay there forever. In other words, we have to grow up. I mean, we […]
Read more "The Greatest Gift 1: Expecting & Accepting"Many of us know the story of the rich man who comes to Jesus and asks, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” What we might have missed is that Jesus eventually looks deeply and carefully inside this guy. It’s a rare thing that Jesus does (as this verb, emblepo, in this form only occurs […]
Read more "All Is Gift 5: Money"We’ve been talking about how everything we have is a gift from God for us, for our neighbors, for the Eternal Kingdom. The most dangerous gift God ever gave was freedom–our ability to make free choices. God did that for the sake of real relationship. After all, if God forced us to make choices for […]
Read more "All Is Gift 4: Freedom"The writer of James suggests that there’s something about the heavenly lights. It’s like the heavenly lights tell a story. But what is that story? Perhaps it’s the story of beginnings…of genesis. Genesis tells a story of a God who creates order…who starts with light…who extends goodness…who has power to speak and things happen…and finally…who partners with creatures, gives them power to extend […]
Read more "All Is Gift 3: Creation"Pastor Suzanna Helms shared with us her personal journey of seeing ALL IS GIFT. On All Saints Sunday, Pastor Suzanna then helped us to see that the focal point for all gifts is relationships. The best thing that God has given us–in fact, the whole reason we’ve been created–is relationships. We have been made and gifted for one […]
Read more "All Is Gift 2: Relationships"