God's Gift of Scripture with Belton Joyner

On this second Sunday of Lent, we get some hints about fellow travelers. There is a ton of insight and challenge and comfort in these verses. Space will not permit us to pick up all of it, but all of these are important reflections for a time when Christians struggle with what it means to stay together as one people. It boils down to this: a cup of water (Mark 9:41). I rejoice in reading of a diff...

It is about four hundred feet from my house to the mailbox. (This morning, my pedometer said it took me 342 steps to get there.) Sometimes, the walk back to the house after picking up the mail is stirred with joy (a letter from a long-away friend), concern (an unexpected bill), boredom (yet another solicitation), or smiles (a look at the cartoons in The New Yorker). Things may seem different becau...

This week’s study text is a familiar one. It is reflected in the official mission statement of The United Methodist Church: “The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” But there would have been good reason for discouragement and uncertainty as those early disciples were commissioned by Jesus. The first thing that jumps out is the fact that...

When I was in the fourth grade, I was promoted to the Junior Department of the Sunday School of First Methodist Church in Siler City. We had an opening assembly and then we fourth graders went off to our small classroom. There, on the front wall, was a large poster. It read: “Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only.” Now, that presented a new word: “doers.” Mrs. Dellinger said it meant “Don’t...

Hooray! I preached a sermon and folks told me I did a great job. Hooray! I gave ten dollars to the needy family fund and the treasurer told me how generous I was. Hooray! I took time to drive thirty miles to visit a friend in the hospital and he told me how thoughtful I was. Oops. Jesus said that the light we shine is so that others can give glory to God, not so they will see how wonderful we are....

How do you react when someone says, “Hey, listen up!”? How do you respond when someone shouts, “Hey! I’ve got something to tell you!”? What do you do when someone says, “Pay attention now!”? That’s what the word Shema means: “Hear ye, hear ye!” Many faithful Jewish persons (tradition says males) will recite this text from Deuteronomy twice a day. It is a prayer conversation with God in which the A...