Psalm 23/ John 10:22-30

Family: Circle of Trust

Forming a Relationship of Trust

My cat Melody and I have been together for almost 10 years. She’s a shy cat. It took several months till she let me pick her up, and now, she sleeps with me with her backside exposed, which is a sign of trust. She also lets me put my hand on her neck and trusts that I won’t harm her. That trust has been earned over a long period of time.

After my best friends adopted my godchildren, it took probably 2 years for hem to be fully attached to their new parents. They trust my friends fully now, which was also earned from commitment of love and care.

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The Gift of Doubt
Based on Acts 5:27-32 and John 20:19-29

Mostly I want to focus on the gospel of John this morning, but I invite you to turn aside for a moment and look at this passage from the book of Acts.

Imprisoned Peter in Acts 5

Here we find Peter, in particular, speaking out and challenging the rule makers, healing people and sharing his understanding of what God has been up to in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Peter and other unnamed apostles, have fallen afoul of the Jewish authorities by proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus, and God at work through the life and now the Spirit of a man who had been crucified about two months previously. They were imprisoned, but apparently an angel let them out.

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(Luke 22-23)

As We Follow Jesus to the Cross

Death of Jesus: Traditional Theology

Today is Palm Sunday/ Passion Sunday, starting the Holy Week. Through our exceptionally long scripture reading, we followed Jesus to his cross.

Those of us who grew up in the church learned that Jesus died for our sins, which fits the ancient Jewish concept of scarifying a lamb without any blemish for atonement. This is one theological interpretation of the death of Jesus that became the main Christian idea.

Although this theology humbles us with the idea that everyone is a sinner and comforts us by the grace of God that didn’t spare God’s only Son to save us from sin, not everyone is comforted and empowered by it. Since we are already familiar with the traditional theology that Jesus died for our sins, today, I will focus on an alternative interpretation for the death of Jesus.

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Isaiah 55:1-9/ Psalm 63/ Luke 13:1-9

                             Come to Me, Come Back to Me

Breech of Relationships

Have you ever experienced a breech in any of your relationships and you suffered both physically and emotionally? My most significant experience of this happened when I was living in Kimberley. It was a difficult time, to say the least.

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James 2:1-10, 14-17/ Psalm 37/ Mark 7:24-37

                               Don’t We Deserve Justice?

Do the Right Thing Movie

In 1989, Spike Lee made the movie Do the Right Thing that proved him to be one of the greatest movie directors of our time. This movie explores the race relation in a New York City neighborhood in which the black members of the community end of rioting after being continually treated like less than human. The unbearable heat of the summer in the movie is a perfect metaphor for the rising tension between the ethnic groups in the neighborhood and the growing frustration of the black characters.

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