Things start to get ugly.  Stories of lies, abandonments, trickery. fear, horrific suggestions by Lot with his daughters.  Hard chapters to read Lord's Prayer - notice what is the same and what is different in the prayer that we pray on Sundays.  Notice how the things Jesus is getting at is about internal things. For Jesus it isn't about the externals if the internals are not in alignmentGod and w...  Read More

The Bible Project - The Book of Genesis - Key Themes The Bible Project - The Book of Matthew - Key Themes...  Read More

Elements with Abraham and Sarah of trying to force God's hand.  Important note - Hagar is the first person in the Bible to give God a name.  She names God, "El-Roi" - The one who sees or God who sees.  Also notice how this becomes a part of the naming of the well where God encounters herCovenant - word keeps showing up and will keep showing up.  What does that word mean to you?  Names are changed ...  Read More

I love the statement - lift up your eyes (or raise up your eyes).  It is such a beautiful sense of expansiveness and seeing the bigger thing than just looking downNotice that the "religion" of the day is not yet fully formed.  It is still a work in progress.  The covenant ceremony - this is patterend after what was known as a Suzerain Treaty ceremony from ancient times.  The key thing is that norm...  Read More

Again, feels like a response to an ancient (and current) question - how did all these things come about?  Abram - similar call to what comes so many other times.  Go, leave what you have always known and I will lead you.  Notice that Abram is afraid and takes actions that reflect that fear.  Notice that Egypt shows up for the first time...And not for the last.... Sermon on the Mount pt 1 - Read cl...  Read More

What this story spoke to me was about the times when I felt like I was in the midst of a flood and how much of a gift it became when it felt llike the waters were receding or had receded.  Thinking back of the feeling of the figurative sun on my face, the "ahhhh" of being able to be released.  Hope.  Rainbow - what do I think about when I see one today?  God's covenant or pulling out my camera?  (...  Read More

Genealogy - remember that for hundreds of years these stories were shared by oral tradition.  Even in cultures where that was the primary way, things get exaggerated.  A person who lived a long time might have lived 60-70 yeras but after it was passed along a bunch of times, suddently Methuselah lived for over 900 years!  As I read stories like this, I think of the ways that we say today about how...  Read More

A theme that came up for me is that we're still dealing with some of the same thingsShame - After A&E eat the fruit, they were ashamed and sought to cover up their shame both literally and figuratively.  We're still dealing with the power of shame in our lives (see Brene Brown's writings on shame especially!)Care for Others - Cain's "Am I my brother's keeper?"  We are still asking that question- -...  Read More

Chapter 1 - Notice the way that each day of creation is described...good, good, good, good, good, and then the last day when all is finished, it is described as very good.  Ch 1 - Let us create humankind in our image.  Male and female God created humankind in God's image.  Notice this is speaking to the idea that both male and female are representative of the image of God.  End of Ch 1 - When it w...  Read More

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Good evening friends - I know we said we'd make the call tomorrow morning but we're making it tonight. We have decided to cancel our service and studies tomorrow morning out of an abundance of caution. So please stay home and stay warm.BUT!!!!!!!!!An online service will be uploaded in the morning to celebrate the third Sunday of Advent. It includes some of the music that we would have had from the...  Read More

Friends, I woke up this morning thinking about Advent and realizing that we are pretty much right in the middle of it right now. Feels like we have been Advent-ing for a while but there's still a lot ahead. I guess that's what waiting is often like. We see some things that have been realized but we also know there is still much that is still ahead. There's a thing in Christian theology that simply...  Read More