Author: Rev. Neil Gately, Advisory Board Member, Mainstream UMC Dear Friends, I have served as a pastor in The United Methodist Church for over three decades, yet I still find new inspiration in the same scriptures that are read and preached year after year. I am always impressed by the faithfulness of the individuals in the Christmas story. Mary’s response to the angel is … [Read more...] about Love Came Down at Christmas
Scripture
“With What Kind of Body Do They Come?”
Author: Ronald E. Holland DMin DD, Elder Ret. The UMC. Many of us in the United Methodist Church believe that the Legislative function of our church (denomination) is broken beyond repair. It is finished no matter the cause. Dead. True or not, the assertions are being made and the succession question is frequently asked. In what form might Resurrection come to us? What might God provide … [Read more...] about “With What Kind of Body Do They Come?”
Scripture, Science, & Sexuality
Co-Author: Reverend Lee Johnson has been in ministry for more than 30 years. He is an ordained Elder in the Great Plains Annual Conference and currently serves as Minister of Congregational Care at Asbury United Methodist Church in Prairie Village, Kansas. Co-Author: Dr. Barbara Lukert is Professor of Medicine Emerita at the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Kansas City, … [Read more...] about Scripture, Science, & Sexuality
An Audacious Christmas
Author: Rev. Bill McCartney We often describe God as AMAZING. At Christmas we come face to face with the reality that ours is also an AUDACIOUS God. Note the various audacious, “off the wall”elements in the story. Those elements dare to turn our world upside down. All elements of the Christmas story fall outside the norm, are counter-intuitive. The child is to be born in an … [Read more...] about An Audacious Christmas
Advent Peace
Peace "The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together,and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder's … [Read more...] about Advent Peace
Matthew 14:22-33 – In the Storm around the Special Session – Keep Your Eyes on Jesus
Author: Tim Crouch, Lay Delegate, North Texas Annual Conference Matthew 14:22-33 Peter following Jesus walking on the water. I recently used this text in a presentation to my church in Denton about the upcoming special session of the General Conference and what it could mean to our local church. I wanted to focus on Peter in this story. Peter, who got out of the boat on faith, and walked … [Read more...] about Matthew 14:22-33 – In the Storm around the Special Session – Keep Your Eyes on Jesus
Matthew 14:22-33 – Verse
22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. 25 Shortly before dawn Jesus … [Read more...] about Matthew 14:22-33 – Verse
Mark 10:46-52 Recovering from Spiritual Blindness
Author: Philip Sloat, Pastor of Franklin and Macon UMC's in Nebraska At the end of the tenth chapter of Mark, Jesus and his disciples pass through Jericho on their way to Jerusalem. As he prepared for his final journey to Jerusalem, Jesus repeatedly told the disciples what awaited him. Three times he told them: “See, we are going to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the … [Read more...] about Mark 10:46-52 Recovering from Spiritual Blindness
Mark 10:46-52 Verse
Blind Bartimaeus Receives His Sight 46 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but … [Read more...] about Mark 10:46-52 Verse
Interpreting Slavery in the Bible
Author: Mark Holland Genesis 9:18-29 The Curse of Ham. This passage served for centuries as the Biblical justification for slavery. Noah came off the ark, planted a vineyard, got drunk, and passed out naked in his tent. Ham stumbled into the tent, saw his father’s nakedness, and reported the unhappy experience to his brothers. When Noah came to, he issued a curse that Ham, the father … [Read more...] about Interpreting Slavery in the Bible