Rev. Zach

Psalm 118:14-29     John 20:19-31 The year was 1995. I was freshly divorced and house sitting for a friend of mine while he was away for the summer. He had a late 80’s Mazda Rx7 that he told me to be sure I drove from time to time, but I had to be careful because the speedometer didn’t always work. Well, I got pulled over. By some miracle of chance, the officer believed me that the car was not stolen and that the speedometer was broken. That was probably due to the fact that I was pulled over for going too slow, but I still attributed being let go without a ticket to the prayers that leaped into my heart at the sound of the siren! It was a trying time in my life, and that very night I did what I would never advise anyone do. I got out my Bible. I shook my fist at God and said, “If you love me, prove it!” Then I flipped open the Bible and stuck my finger in it – just like Thomas. Fortunately, I did not land in something like Daniel’s dream of a ram and a goat. I lan...

Psalm 118:14-29        Revelation 1:1-8 Today is the day that the church breathes a collective sigh after the rigor of Lent and the hospitality of Easter. The lilies are still with us, but they beg to be taken by anyone who will have them. The extra family members that took up the spaces of those members visiting their own families in other congregations have returned to their homes. Hopefully some who came for the pageantry of Easter might have returned to see if the Spirit of God they experienced is more than an idle tale. And we who follow Christ must ask ourselves if anything has changed since Easter. That question is the essential struggle of the Book of the Revelation of John. The resurrection was not in question – not for those who followed Jesus and called him the messiah. The divinity of Jesus was not a particular concern, either. For John’s generation of followers of the way of Jesus, particularly those who were Jewish or who were considered “God-fearing”...