The Threat
Dan Schrock
Who would have thought that Mary would pose a threat to Herod? King Herod was one of the great men of the world. His father was Antipater, a man who had lots of wealth and influence. His mother was a Nabataean princess. He was born in 73 BCE and died in March or April in […]
Theologian of the Possible
Dan Schrock
Mary’s words in this passage of scripture are hard for us to hear. This short passage has been set to music and sung more often than maybe any other passage of scripture in Christian history. If you pick up a book of morning and evening prayers, this passage is often featured prominently in the daily […]
Friends
Dan Schrock
If something really wonderful happened to you, who is the first person you would want to share the news with? Suppose you were offered a new job in a better organization for more pay. Who would you call up first and tell the news to? Or suppose you won a lottery to have solar panels […]
Mary, Breaker of Codes and Conventions
Marilyn Rudy-Froese
One of my favorite novels is The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, set in South Carolina in 1964. In it a white teenager, Lily, struggling to make sense of her hazy memories from the afternoon her mother was killed, and living with a father who is abusive, runs away from home with […]
Perplexed
Dan Schrock
If there’s anything we Americans want in our leaders, it’s confidence. From the mayor to the governor to the president, we want to hear our leaders exude confidence. Even if our leaders stretch the truth a little, we still want them to sound confident. Historians sometimes say that one reason Franklin Roosevelt was popular as […]
A Reluctant Prophet and a Persistent God
Marilyn Rudy-Froese
I debated preaching this sermon from the doorway, just as Jeremiah preached his temple sermon in the gate of the temple. What difference does it make where one stands to speak? Does it sound different if spoken in the doorway, rather than from the pulpit? It’s an interesting welcoming strategy as well, to speak this […]
Trust Amid Anxiety
Dan Schrock
I once sat with a young woman who was anxious about the state of the world. Of course someone could worry about any number of things in this world, but this young woman was especially anxious about wars in various parts of the world. During and after college she had lived in several different countries […]
Forgiveness
Peter Shetler
Almost anytime I call Jan during the day, or send her an email (unless someone is listening in or others are copied), or just see her at the end of the day — I will almost always start out with, “So. Do you still love me?” Now Jan says that this is just because I […]
The Ultimate Offering
Dan Schrock
God is in a feisty mood. The prophet Micah is also in a feisty mood. To understand why, look at the context. Micah, a Hebrew prophet who lived in the southern kingdom of Judah about 720 years before Jesus, cared passionately about ordinary people. Micah was no urbane aristocrat like the prophet Isaiah. Instead he […]
Even Solomon in all his Glory
Marilyn Rudy-Froese
“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.” (Matt.6:28-29; Luke 12:27) The Gospels of Matthew and Luke include this reference to Solomon in Jesus’ teaching about worry and anxiety over food, drink […]
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