Grace Alone Online

"The name is Bond....James Bond."  We're probably all familiar with this phrase from the James Bond movie franchise.  Just this little phrase brings back memories of all the attributes of Bond: suave, debonair, sly, dangerous, crafty.  Sometimes, descriptive names precede a person's name like Alexander "the Great".  These names have historically labelled the person for his or h...

All the Gospel contain the narrative of the resurrection.  Mark's though is the shortest.  It originally had only 8 verses dedicated to this.  But in later years after the Gospel was written, copyists added the finishing touches; that which all the other Gospel writers included: Jesus appearing before the disciples and others.  why does Mark leave this out?  What was he trying to communicate by do...

There is a grave in Hannover, Germany, called THE OPEN GRAVE.  It is Henrietta von Ruling's grab.  Buried in 1784, Henrietta's epitaph reads, "This grave, bought for eternity, must never be opened."  But....a little birch seed implanted itself into the foundation of the crypt and 100 years later it broke through the sarcophagus and crypt and opened the tomb.  The impossible hap...

Palm Sunday.  Jesus riding into Jerusalem.  You know the story.  Probably too well.  You glide over it; dismiss it with an, "I know what happens today."  Do you?  Who were those people on the side of the road?  Why would they welcome Jesus.  He did nothing victorious.  He certainly wasn't Hercules in a Disney movie. Remember that parade?  Yes, who...

Our final Sunday in Lent for our Mercy in Lent Theme: Mercy in Service.  Perhaps you know the joke where in the Scripture tennis was a big sport, because in Genesis 41 we read: "Joseph served in Pharaoh's court."  Service is important in playing tennis.  It puts the ball in motion and the game begins.  Without the service there is no game.  Christians serve too, only it's...

Our Lenten theme of Mercy continues with Mercy in Relationships.  Relationships are difficult to maintain.  We either wrong someone else or someone else wrongs us in many different ways.  The churches in the New Testament had a problem of relationships as well.  So, even among Christians, problems in relationships exist.  We can liken relationships to fruit that is ripe an...

Mercy in Betrayal.  We continue our theme for Lent of "Mercy in ...".  Betrayal.  A word hardly used today.  We say "throw under the bus."  Did Judas thrwo Jesus under the bus?  Betrayal is paying lip service and Judas definitely paid lip service to Jesus, betraying Him with a kiss in the Garden of Gethsemane that Maundy Thursday evening more than 2000 years ago. &nbs...

Our Lent theme continues with: Mercy in Suffering.  Why would God allow suffering to take place in this world, especially to his Christian children?  Or, when Christians suffer, is it different from the other sufferings in this world?  Luther understood that God, although not causing suffering, does allow suffering to happen for His purposes.  What might those be?  How are...

Mercy in Temptation - our Lenten Theme on God's Mercy continues.  Temptation is almost unheard of today. in a world where everything is legit and you're encouraged to do whatever you want, where nothing is prohibited or bad how can we talk about "temptation?"  to be tempted, you have to have a legitimate system of right and wrong values.  society no longer has right/wrong values. &n...

Ashes to ashes.  We hear it at every funeral.  We find it in Scripture referring to our return to the earth after our death.  Ashes.  A simple of decay, filth, destruction, and sin.  The Old Testament is full of references of repentance shown by donning sackcloth (burlap) and ashes.  Even Jesus uses this phrase for repentance.  Why repent?  What's behind it?...

A familiar story closes our Epiphany theme: Joy for All.  this, however, is no parable.  What Jesus has been revealing about himself and about the kingdom of God is now experienced by the disciples, Peter, John and James.  They were transformed as they saw Christ in His glory with Moses and Elijah, and had a mountain top experience.  HAve you had a mountain top experience with...

Our Epiphany these: Joy for All continues.  IT'S NOT FAIR.  The persistent widow appears for the Jewish judge and a tax collector outdoes a Pharisee in repentance.  They're both looking for true joy for all.  Do they find it?  Can you find it in any court of law in our country, or anywhere else? What is Jesus up to in this parable?

We all know the story of the Prodigal Son.  "Prodigal" means to be lavish.  Sometimes, we even see ourselves as that prodigal son who squandered everything and then wants to return home.  We relate with the son, who seeks his father's forgiveness.  But that is not Jesus' point in this parable.  Whoever labelled this paragraph in your bibles as The Prodigal Son got it wrong...

Our Epiphany theme continues, Joy for All! The Shepherd lost a sheep and sent to look for it. A Woman loses a coin and ransacks the whole house looking for it. There is joy when they find it. How much would you sacrifice for something precious that you lost? Would you give up looking after a while, or would you even sell everything that you had to recuperate it? What’s your price? Why does Jesus t...

We’ve heard the story from Luke repeatedly. Probably every year. We know it as the Good Samaritan. When we hear the title, our immediate reaction is, “Oh, I know this story…there were three men who walked beside a half-dead bludgeoned man on the side of the road AND the one who came to his aid, was the one whom you least expected: not the Jewish priest, not a Levite, but the outcast Samaritan. He...

Our Epiphany theme of Joy for All continues.  Did you hear the one about the Pharisee, Jesus and the sinful woman?  I retell the story of this Luke 7:36-50 encounter in a bit different way.  Someone finds great joy; the other doesn't.  It's in the punchline.

Our Epiphany theme is: JOY for ALL. The Roman Centurion sends word through Jewish elders to ask Jesus to come to the house and heal a servant. Later, however, he defers that invitation and sends friends to ask that his servant be healed from a distance. The Jews said the centurion was "worthy." But, was he?  Are you worthy of Jesus?

See how our Epiphany theme, Joy for All, is found in the Baptism of Jesus our Lord. Jesus stands in the waters of Baptism a hero, ready to do battle.  But, when we see him we see only a man, water and a washing.  What's going on here that gives meaning to our Baptism?

"Are you ready to leave?"  This was my common question to the kids when getting ready for church on Sundays.  Inevitably, my son could never find his shoes.  If truly "All God's Chillun' Got Shoes" as the great singer Paul Robeson once sang in his collection of Spirituals in the early 1900s, my son was not in the line to receive his shoes.  He couldn't even find his socks. &nbs...

Christmas Eve - what can I say?  Luke uses only two words to sum up Christmas.  What are they?

Listening to Christians talk sometimes, you'd think they were the poorest people in the world.  "Woe is me, my finances, my health, my job, my life..."  Christians are the wealthiest people in the world.  God's forgiveness is our wealth.  I know, I know, it's not material, you can't count it - but you can count on it!  Although wealthy, Christians look to their own wealth...

Shame and guilt.  the church says a lot about guilt, but does not treat shame.  Guilt is caused by YOU; shame is done TO you.  The church usually looks at the sins we commit and ask for forgiveness but doesn't spend a lot of time dealing with the hurt and pain of those sins against us - those sins that make us feel like N-O-T-H-I-N-G.  Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist,...

HOPE.  The Second Sunday of Advent is all about HOPE....hope is not wishful thinking.  It does not mean to "wish" for something out of the ordinary to happen.  HOPE in Scripture, and in many other languages, is the same word as "WAIT"  You "wait" with "hope".  Hope is therefore knowing for certainty what is going to happen.  To have hope is to await the completion of...

After finding the continental Divide, Lewis and Clark thought that they had an easy ride to the Pacific Ocean on the Columbia River.  but, then they saw the Rocky Mountains.  Talk about being trapped - they could not go back, and they didn't know the path forward.  What about you?  Are you trapped?  Can't turn back, can't move forward?  How do you deal with it?  ...

We give thanks for all things. Even those things that are difficult? Yes, even for those. Do we pray with thanksgiving? Even if they are seemingly not answered? Yes, we do. Thanksgiving does not always mean “joy”…it is to give thanks in all things, knowing that God has what is best for us all the time.  We give thanks for our constitution which has protected the freedom to worship and give th...