Jesus and Me ... and the Cats

Matthew 5:13-16 Acts 17:22-32 Here’s a riddle for you:  How are runway lights, Christmas Luminaries, Front porch lights and Christ’s Easter People alike?   The soldier sits in a window seat watching the runway lights grow closer and closer.  After they have docked at their gate, she grabs her duffle bag from the overhead bin and waits anxiously to disembark.  As she enters the main terminal, she is swept up into the arms of her husband.  Then falling to her knees, she gathers her children to her.  She is home. The walk to the front door is lined with luminaries.  Swaddled in a nest of blankets in a car seat carrier, the newborn is carried along between her mother and father.  Before the young family can even get to the front door of the house, it swings open, and Grandma and Grandpa greet the baby and her parents on the front steps with arms open wide.  The new granddaughter is home. In the quiet of a summer ...

I Peter 2:4-10 The churches Peter was writing to were under a great deal of stress. Harassment and persecution was on the rise. Some communities of faith were considering withdrawing, isolating themselves from the world. Withdrawing is a common reaction to stress, what ever the cause. Certainly the changes in cultural attitudes toward faith and the church, technology, communication methods have stressed out many churches. It's a human thing to turn inward and go into survival mode. But that is not what God intends for his people. God didn't lead the people of Israel to a promised land out in the middle of nowhere. It was smack dab in the middle of everything – trade routes, other peoples and other nations. God called them to represent God to the world and keep the covenant – God's promises and law of love – before all peoples. They were blessed to bless all peoples. They were chosen. Chosen. That's what Peter wanted the churches of his...

John 10:1-10 Acts 2:42-47 In the opening scenes of the movie, “Rise of the Guardians,” Jack Frost is brought into being. But there is a problem. Jack has no sense of purpose, no idea of what his reason for being is and he's not real. He knows what others say he is – a trouble maker, irresponsible, always messing up. Try as he might, he just can't figure out how to become real. In some ways, we're like Jack. At times, we struggle to keep it real, that is being true to who we are. There are a lot of voices telling us who we are or what we should be – friends, family, the workplace, the classroom, the media, our culture and even ourselves. It doesn't help that we play many roles as spouse, parent, child, student, worker and friend, to mention a few. All those voices, and they all want a piece of us. If we try to follow them all, we end up fragmented and may even lose our sense of purpose. In the movie, Santa Claus asks Jack, “Who are you, Ja...