Grace Alone Online

In his letter to the Galatians, St. Paul talks about freedom.  Being free, living free is what happens in freedom.  You don't HAVE freedom; you live in freedom, just like one lives in a king-dom, or feels like a star in star-dom.  Freedom means that you have have been freed FROM something that held you captive or enslaved you.  There is a consequence to freedom, however.  ...

the great prophet Elijah is hiding in a cave.  He is hiding from King Ahab who wants to cut off his head for defeating his 450 prophets of Baal and then killing them.  King Ahab and Queen Jezebel want Elijah's head and all the prophets of the true God.  Hiding in the cave, Elijah tell God "I want out.  No longer be a prophet."  He has met constantly with spiritual batle ag...

Jesus is revealing who He is, who sent Him, what His mission is, that He must die and rise from the dead.  The Pharisees challenge Him and cry blasphemy.  But, there were some Judean (Jews) who believed in Him.  Jesus addresses them, and as He continues teaching, a big argument ensues, and they repudiate Him.  But....how did they once believe in Him.  They wanted to choose...

We celebrate the gift and work of the Holy Spirit.  After Jesus' ascension into heaven, the promised Holy Spirit was gifted to the disciples.  It is through God's Holy Spirit is twofold; (1) we recognize that we are broken and in need of a savior for we are not perfect, nor can we hope to live up to God's righteous standards because of sin in our very being and (2) it is the Holy Spirit...

Before Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus prayed for his disciples. As a part of that prayer, Jesus prays for us as well.  He prays for all those who will come to believe in Him as their Lord and Savior through the witness of the Apostles.  He prays specifically for three things for us: (1) that we live in unity, as the Father and the Son live in unity with each other his desire...

"Come in and know me better, man" is a line taken from A Christmas Carol.  It is the invitation of the Spirit of Christmas to Scrooge on his journey through the night examining the past, the present and his inevitable future.  While Charles Dickens describes Scrooge as a skinflint and humbug in relation to those around him, the story is told to inspire those who despair of their lives in...

We know that a magician is someone who entertains people through deception; presenting to them something that defies logic or the natural.  A card that floats from one hand to the other or a person sawn in half and then comes out of the box whole.  He might even accompany some magic words that serve as a clue as to what is about to happen, like, “here is a normal pitcher…” uh, yeah, righ...

The Road to Emmaus is a familiar story where Jesus encounters Cleopas and another disciple walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus.  The resurrection had happened that morning and they were walking - perhaps back home.  for them, everything was over.  Comparing the story of the women looking for Jesus in the tomb but could not find him, here we have two men walking on the road, not even lo...

I believe that for everyone, there are times in which we wish that someone would come and search for us; that someone would seek us out where we are at.  Perhaps our pain and suffering, conscience, loneliness, depression has become such a torment that we would wish someone would show the love and concern that we desperately need.  You know, that someone would just take us into their arms...

Christ is Risen! He is risen, indeed!  This is the appropriate response form the congregation on Easter Sunday morning.  Christ's resurrection is the only reason Christianity is what it is.  Christians are all those who confess Christ as their Savior.  those who confess Christ as their Savior accept the testimony of eye-witnesses who, for thousands of years, have handed down wr...

Palm Sunday marks the end of Lent and the beginning of Holy Week.  It begins with the ride of Jesus on a donkey, from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem.  There were other revolutionary leaders who were hailed as Messiahs, who also rode from the Mount into Jerusalem.  In their revolts, however, they died, and their band of guerrillas disbanded.  Who was going to oust the Roman...

Today we reach the las Sunday in Lent by interviewing John, the beloved disciple of Jesus.  HE was in the Garden of Gethsemane the night Jesus was betrayed.  He and Peter and James fell asleep while Jesus was praying.  He encourages us to meet crossroads in our life by abiding in Jesus' love and forgiveness.  Listen to his story.

Peter, a disciple of Jesus, denied knowing Jesus three  times during the night before Jesus' crucifixion.  Although a leader  among the disciples, and a person who confessed Jesus as the Messiah, he  is remembered by most for this denial.  We interview him today as part  of our ongoing Lent interviews leading up to Easter.  Peter can't seem  to shake the fac...

This morning we interview Malchus, the high priest's guard whose ear Peter cut off in the garden of Gethsemane.  the interesting thing about this story, is that Jesus is in the middle between two powers in this world.  The first, his own disciple Peter, a Zealot, a guerrilla who wanted to overthrow the Roman domination and set Israel free by proclaiming Jesus to be the Messiah, the comin...

The person we attribute as most responsible for Jesus' sentencing during His passion is Pontius Pilate.  A Roman governor of Judea, Pilate was disdained by the Jews who were a constant problem for him, he was place on report to Caesar because of them.  He feared the Jews and so to protect himself turned Jesus over to them to be crucified.  Was he innocent?  A victim of circumst...

Judas is known for his betrayal of Jesus.  Accepting 30 pieces of silver to turn over Christ to the Jewish authorities for crucifixion betrayed the trust that he was given as treasurer of the disciples.  At times, the tendency is to turn Judas into the victim.  Jesus Christ Superstar does this; he is the main character at times.  And even in our minds we may think, "Jesus knew...

Tonight is Ash Wednesday.  This period of 40 days is called LENT; a time in which we focus on our need for salvation.  It is a time of repentance and preparation before God to reflect on our mortality and to remind us of our waywardness.  We follow Jesus and His journey to His crucifixion on Good Friday, and His resurrection by which we are all set free from condemnation, sin and de...

We all grow up from childhood.  We grow emotionally, physically, mentally and socially without trying and without thinking about it.  Nothing can stop this from happening.  It is a natural process that happens in all creatures.  it is a part of our creaturliness; a part of our flesh and blood-ness.  There is no person that does not outgrow clothes or toys.  We all fea...

Throughout Epiphany Jesus has been revealing who He is to those around Him.  Through power and authority, He has been healing, casting out demons, and forgiving sins ... miraculously.  Not that the miracles are his point, nor are they proof of his Messiahship; they are merely an outpouring of the Father's love making right a creation gone awry.  He turns the world upside down vanqui...

My faith is running empty.  So should yours!  in his letter to the Corinthians, Paul takes issue with a problem Christians were having about the tension between what was preached and the proof of that word.  this tension exists for us too.  For example, to say, "I love you" is empty and meaningless unless it is backed up by "proof".  So what is the value of words.  Is...

Luke's story of a miraculous catch that Jesus did brought a new calling to Peter and the disciples.  But the question is...what exactly was the miracle?  If not the two boatloads of fish, then what?  Listen to why Jesus did this and why Luke includes it in his Gospel.

Paul says that these three remain "faith, hope and love" but that the greatest of these is "love."  Why is that, do faith and hope fail at times?  Is he referring to God's love, or to human love?  This 1 Corinthians passages is a well known passage to Christians and non-Christians alike turning 'love' into something of a cure all.  But our love is not powerful nor authoritative...

In Luke's Gospel, there is an elephant in the room.  You know, when everybody in a room knows there is an issue but nobody wants to talk about it?  Our two texts (Nehemiah and Luke) help to understand what is going on in this synagogue where Jesus was invited to speak and why He chooses to confront the elephant head on.  Find out what (or who) that elephant is!

Sometimes, fairy-tales help us understand imagery that is brought out in the Bible.  One theory is that Biblical stories were so powerful in the history of storytelling, that they also influenced cultural fairy-tales.  "Mirror, mirror on the wall..." shows us who we are, in the light of what we think or imagine that we are.  The truth is, "You are not the fairest in the land." &nbsp...

the church calendar of readings marks today as the Baptism of Jesus Sunday.  In the season of Epiphany, Jesus' Baptism marks the beginning of His ministry which ultimately takes Him to the cross.  But, His Baptism was not just a "showpiece" for everyone to see.  Neither is our Baptism a simple initiation rite, or our declaration of faithfulness to God.  God does marvelous and u...