Jan. 25, 2015 Third Sunday of Epiphany

Mark 1:14-20 (The Message)

14 After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee preaching the Message of God: 15 "Time's up! God's kingdom is here. Change your life and believe the Message." 16 Passing along the beach of Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew net-fishing. Fishing was their regular work. 17 Jesus said to them, "Come with me. I'll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I'll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass." 18 They didn't ask questions. They dropped their nets and followed. 19 A dozen yards or so down the beach, he saw the brothers James and John, Zebedee's sons. They were in the boat, mending their fishnets. 20 Right off, he made the same offer. Immediately, they left their father Zebedee, the boat, and the hired hands, and followed

For some reason beyond human understanding, through the course of history, God has chosen to use human beings - not angels, but mortals - to do what God wants done.

Simon, Andrew, James and John, said yes to Jesus’ call to follow him and then found out how big the catch was.  It asked more of them then they ever imagined possible.

To follow Jesus, as the one God sent, is not just to be saved.  It is to be thrust into a hostile world there to do what we don’t want to do - be merciful as our God is merciful!   Forgive as our God forgives! 

This is where the rubber hits the road! 

 Be merciful!

Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me be merciful, kind, gentle, good, forgiving, to those I love and to those I hate.  It is Your way which leads to peace and joy.”

Jan 18, 2015 Second Sunday of Epiphany

John 1:43-51 (The Message)

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. When he got there, he ran across Philip and said, "Come, follow me." … 45 Philip went and found Nathanael and told him, "We've found the One Moses wrote of in the Law, the One preached by the prophets. It's Jesus, Joseph's son, the one from Nazareth!" 46 Nathanael said, "Nazareth? You've got to be kidding." But Philip said, "Come, see for yourself." 47 When Jesus saw him coming he said, "There's a real Israelite, not a false bone in his body." 48 Nathanael said, "Where did you get that idea? You don't know me." Jesus answered, "One day, long before Philip called you here, I saw you under the fig tree." 49 Nathanael exclaimed, "Rabbi! You are the Son of God, the King of Israel!" 50 Jesus said, "You've become a believer simply because I say I saw you one day sitting under the fig tree? You haven't seen anything yet! 51 Before this is over you're going to see heaven open and God's angels descending to the Son of Man and ascending again.”

Nathanael was too sure too soon.  Jesus chides him a bit for his ease of believing, and reminds him that he hasn’t seen anything yet.  He is going to see more than his certainty can be sure of!  He is going to discover that faith is more than being sure: more than little miracles.

“The quest for certainty is self-defeating, and that is true whether the certainty we seek is an assurance about God or about some person we love very much or about the significance of our own selves.  In each case, I think, the more we seek certainty or assurance, the more uncertain we become. ... But the quest for understanding, as I see it, requires that we give up the search for certainty and go on a voyage of discovery.  And there is a lot to discover  about God, about other people and about ourselves.”  John Dunne, Psychology Today, Jan 1978




“I am looking for a voyage of discovery which
continually opens up new possibilities to me;
new joys, new discoveries of the meaning of being loved and of loving both humanly and
with my God.”  
                    Anyita Bryan








Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, keep me open to new understanding of your love for all.
Help me discover more and more of what it means to walk with you.”

Jan 11, 2015 The Baptism of Our Lord

Mark 1:4-11 (The Message)

4 John the Baptizer appeared in the wild, preaching a baptism of life-change that leads to forgiveness of sins. 5 People thronged to him from Judea and Jerusalem and, as they confessed their sins, were baptized by him in the Jordan River into a changed life. 6 John wore a camel-hair habit, tied at the waist with a leather belt. He ate locusts and wild field honey. 7 As he preached he said, "The real action comes next: The star in this drama, to whom I'm a mere stagehand, will change your life. 8 I'm baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. His baptism - a holy baptism by the Holy Spirit - will change you from the inside out." 9 At this time, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 The moment he came out of the water, he saw the sky split open and God's Spirit, looking like a dove, come down on him. 11 Along with the Spirit, a voice: "You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life."


It all begins with Baptism, this thing called mission and ministry.
It began with Baptism for Jesus, and it begins there for us.

As one theologian put it, baptism is:  “Not only a Rite of Initiation, not only a signal moment in (our) relation to God as a child of God, but it is also a time of becoming a character in the on going story of God’s work in (our) world.”

It is a commissioning more then a christening; a setting aside for special purpose.  An ordination if you please into ministry.  Baptism is for what we can give to life and to others because we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the Cross of Christ forever.  It is not meant to separate us from others; it is meant to make us more open to being the presence of Christ for others.







“Baptism is “…a time of becoming
a character in the on going story
of God’s work in our world.”
A joyous time!







Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me to walk wet…rejoicing in your gift of Baptism.
Keep me mindful that this means I have to do something which makes a difference in my world.”

Jan. 4, 2015 Christmas 2

Luke 2:41-52

41 Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. 43 After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you."
    49 "Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
    51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

Jesus wasn’t the perfect child if we think of being perfect as always obedient, always predictable, always meeting his parents expectations.

He gave them some anxious moments, fearful moments, bewildering moments.  Something burned within Jesus (God’s plan) which he may not have understood as a child of 12 but which led him in ways which left his family anxious.
He had to find out who he was and what he was here for.  (Don’t we all?)

No one can do this for us - we have to each do it for ourselves and it can create anxious moments for those who love us.  As one writer said of these words:





“There are times when we get caught
  up in things which scare our parents,
  not because they are wrong,
  but because there is danger as well
  as beauty in what we are doing.”






Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord help me to to love when I am anxious and let my children grow - in wisdom and stature with God and with self.  Even Jesus had to do this! Amen”