The Potter, The Clay, The Frustration!!

Decades ago in college I took an art class that included a session in the pottery studio. Let’s just say that clay, a potter’s wheel and I did not get along. It was dirty, messy and all I produced was a blob of clay. I couldn’t shape it to save my life. It was without...

Giving Voice to Pain and Promise

I do not know about you, but I do not think I would want to hear the call of God in quite the way Jeremiah heard it. Listen to verse 9 and 10 again: Then the Lord stretched out his hand, touched my mouth, and said to me, “I’m putting my words in your mouth. This very...

Birthing the Church?!

It’s important this morning to do some context setting. Why are the disciples gathered together all in one place? Why are there so many people from so many nations gathered in Jerusalem? In Luke Chapter 24, we are given the story of the Risen Christ preparing to leave...

Spirit-Guided Freedom to do What?

It’s important to understand the context in which Paul is writing to the church in Galatia. Folks have come into the community of faith and are teaching that the Gentiles must follow the law of Moses to be a Jesus-follower. They have made the claim that the works of...

Love Wins

Imagine Jesus sitting with his disciples as they are eating the Passover meal And they are talking about the future Jesus knows what is ahead for him this night and he is trying to prepare his disciples And they are really struggling with the thought of him leaving...

What’s My Identity?

It seems every time we put ourselves back into the early Christian church, specifically when we read the Book of Acts, things are complicated, struggles are real, and the need to define who is in or who is out is a matter of great importance. The question of how to...