Rainforest Falls VBS is here. Click here for more information

Matthew 23:27-39 “‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous, and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’” (Matthew 23:29-30) It’s hard for me to read this passage and not reflect on America’s history of racial oppression – everything from the injustices done against this land’s original inhabitants to the slave...

Psalm 65 “…your wagon tracks overflow with richness” (Psalm 65:11b) There’s something truly hopeful in this partial line from Psalm 65. A wagon track is a rut. It is the oft-abused, frequently driven over, grooved bruise on the earth. It’s where water can pool and stagnate, allowing mosquitos to flourish and scum to accumulate. It doesn’t have any meaning in itself; it’s just the thing people use when they have a place they desire to go to. Our souls – by that, I mean our hearts, minds,...

Matthew 20:1-16 “When those hired about five o'clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage” (Matthew 20:9) Jesus is not fair. Jesus never said He was fair. He never acted fairly. He never wanted to be fair. In a world in which sin is still a reality, we can’t risk being fair. Of course, in a vacuum – or an ideal world – fairness would make a lot of sense. If everyone starts in the same place and you wanted to benefit everyone in some manner, then you would naturally want to benefit...

Matthew 18:1-9 “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6) The wisdom of Jesus’ words here almost strike us as common sense. “Naturally!” we think to ourselves, “No one should hinder a child! The audacity!” But what if I asked you to name a particular stumbling block. Could you do it? Failing to bring kids to...

Ecclesiastes 9:11-18 “Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favour to the skilful; but time and chance happen to them all. 12For no one can anticipate the time of disaster. Like fish taken in a cruel net, and like birds caught in a snare, so mortals are snared at a time of calamity, when it suddenly falls upon them” (Ecclesiastes 9:11-12) Well, that’s a little on the nose! But here’s...

Galatians 2:11-21 “But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood self-condemned; for until certain people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But after they came, he drew back and kept himself separate for fear of the circumcision faction. And the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy” (Galatians 2:11-13) This story of the dispute between Paul and Peter (a.k.a. Cephas) runs so contrary to...

Matthew 8:28-34 “…two demoniacs coming out of the tombs met him. They were so fierce that no one could pass that way” (Matthew 8:28) A pastor-friend grew up with a stutter. Like most (if not all) children with a stutter, he was quieter because of it. He knew that o-o-o-one instance of this verbal t-t-t-t-tick could send all the children around him into fits of laughter. When this inevitably happened, he felt his cheeks burn with shame and his soul erupt in flames of sorrow. A woman knows that...

Ephesians 1:1-10 “he has made known to us the mystery of his will… to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth” (Ephesians 1:9-10) In the first creation account in Genesis 1, we’re given an image of God ordering the world in a systematic and rational way. In the midst of this story is the separation of sky and sea, a way of signaling that God is ordering 3-dimensional life. He’ll go on to give dominion of the sky to the birds and dominion of the sea to the fish and...

Leviticus 19:1-18 “When you offer a sacrifice of well-being to the LORD…” (Leviticus 19:5) “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 19:9-10) It’s always interesting to see how God’s economy is presented. To be sure, God is very...

Psalm 9 I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. (Psalm 9:1-2) COVID-19 has stolen so much from us. I don’t need to list it out. You watch the news. You know the toll – in lives, in the economy, in freedom – there is no need to state them all. But amongst the newsworthy lists of things robbed from us by this pandemic you won’t the opening verses of Psalm 9. And yet...