Mission Faithwalk

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’   But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, (Matthew 5:21-23) For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.   But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (Matthew 6:15-16)            There was a letter to the editor in today’s Erie Times News saying that it is time for the US to pay reparations for slavery. The writer quotes Ta-Nahisi Coates, “...

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him,  “If you continue in My word,  then  you are truly disciples of Mine;     and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”   (John 8:31-32) Life is being a pain in the neck. I fully recognize that there are people for whom life is far worse than a pain in the neck, but that doesn’t make it any less a pain in the neck. As usual, the slightest pain reduces the universe down to the size of that pain. It doesn’t matter what good things have happened. All that matters is the thing that causes the pain. And since I don’t want to mock or belittle anyone else’s pain, I can only discuss my own, which deserves to be mocked and belittled. The first whisperings were “I’m all alone.” Other people have spouses. Do I want a husband? Not really, but it would really be nice to not have to handle all the chores myself, or to have someone who will listen, understand, and speak the tr...

  Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.   But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— (Colossians 1:21-22) The focus for this week’s prayer time is reconciliation. In general, to reconcile to things is to bring them into agreement. You should reconcile your bank account at least once per month. This morning as I thought about the idea, however, was deep sighs and slumped shoulders as we reconcile ourselves to our miserable fates, whatever they may be. Part of that is human nature, and part of human nature involves reconciliation often meaning “Be reasonable. Do it my way” or “Be reasonable. Give me my way.” There is no meeting in the middle. We’re expected to lay down our arms and be enslaved. And even with God, this seems to be the case. Reconciliation isn’t on our terms. It’s on His. He provides all we need, bu...

But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘ Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God .’” (Matthew 4:4) He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by  bread   alone , but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the  Lord . (Deuteronomy 8:3) I don’t know why Bible.com capitalized the words in the first passage, but I like it. Somehow, capitalizing when the Word of God speaks the Word of God seems appropriate. In my mind’s ear, I’m tempted to hear those words spoken in a booming deep bass with at least a little reverberation and maybe some lighting effects. But, let’s throw out those dramatic features and look at the text and context. In Matthew 4, Jesus was quoting from Deuteronomy 8. He had been out in the wilderness for 40 days. He was hungry. He had not grumbled or rebel...

‘Ah Lord  God ! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You, (Jeremiah 32:17)           In the story I’m working on, there are some people who have vowed to die rather than to submit. They continue to say this after meeting Estaen and hearing about his dernai, but they find themselves unable to overcome the temptation to look to them for help when things aren’t going the way they want. In fact, they repeatedly ask Estaen why he and his dernai won’t help out. At one point, Zheann lists times when the dernai could have helped, but didn’t.           Her complaints should sound familiar. The stereotypical response to anything bad that happens is “where was God?” or “Why did God allow this to happen?” If nothing is too difficult for God, why doesn’t he stop the bad things from happening? Why did He allow C...

           Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way,  walk   in   it ,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left . (Isaiah 30:21)           Sociological studies quoted by Prof. Rodney Stark have shown repeatedly that there are things we can do, choices that we can make that lead to a stronger person, a stronger family, and a stronger society. When you point these things out to others, they are likely to quickly say that “not everyone can live that way.” And they’re correct. There are reasons why some people cannot live according to any given way. There are far more reasons why people will not live according to any given way. But regardless of whether it is actually that they cannot, or just that they claim they cannot because they will not, we seem to have developed a policy that requires that we not only accept that they cannot, but that we celebrate their alternative a...

  However, when the people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai,   they resorted to a ruse: They went as a delegation whose donkeys were loaded with worn-out sacks and old wineskins, cracked and mended.   They put worn and patched sandals on their feet and wore old clothes. All the bread of their food supply was dry and moldy.   Then they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the Israelites, “We have come from a distant country; make a treaty with us.” (Joshua 9:3-8)           There’s an ad playing on I Heart Radio that talks about the dreams and how when we wake up, we forget parts of the dream. It goes on to say that in the American dream, what was forgotten is the Blacks, and because they were forgotten, they have to go out and make their own American dream. I was more than a little impressed with what I heard, though you now know as much as I knew. Th...