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Showing posts with the label Mark 1:4-11

Troubled Waters

The image is from the painting, Baptism of the Lord by Daniel Bonnell. The song is "Glory to God" featuring Jake Spinella and the FPC Chancel Choir. Todays Readings:  Genesis 1:1-5 ; Mark 1:4-11  Wednesday was an interesting day in the life of our nation, in fact, it was an interesting day for the world – given the impact our nation has on others. It was a historic day full of riots and wrangling, run-offs, and run-ins. I’m sure that days like that make good headlines – and I know that I’ve been taught to preach with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other – but I’m tired of making history. I imagine that you are, too. I imagine that I am not alone in longing for a time when things return to normal, or at least a time when everyone isn’t angry about one thing or another. The trouble is that there are still things to be angry about, and we just can’t seem to get past the fact that there are more ways to solve our problems than to expect that might makes right. In ...

Have You Received the Holy Spirit?

Genesis 1:1-5     Psalm 29:1-11     Acts 19:1-7     Mark 1:4-11 Have you received the Holy Spirit?  What an uncomfortable question for a bunch of Presbyterian Christians!  What does it even mean?  We could debate that all day.  For many, the idea of receiving the Holy Spirit is more about a feeling or an emotional response to the God expressed through Christian faith.  For others the gift of the Holy Spirit is more like God’s stamp of approval.  Sometimes it seems to me that we have created some kind of spectrum of Christian experience between those two poles.  On one end you’ve got the Pentecostals and Congregationalists that seem to have a physical response to the metaphysical reality of God’s active presence.  In saying that I’m reminded of my step-brother’s experience of going to church with a friend and being confused by a member that got up and just ran laps around the sanctuary the whole time.  Sa...