Rev. Zach

Psalm 19:1-14     James 3:1-12     Mark 8:27-38 Over the last few weeks we have been talking about the importance of actions, and we need to hold that in mind as part of the argument of the scriptures today. When I say argument I don’t mean that the readings are in conflict with one another. I mean that they have a point to prove, a proclamation to offer, and the intent of winning over our lives through their conviction. We have small arguments like these all the time. I say small because – while scripture is concerned with our individual experiences – scripture is ultimately concerned with a greater reality than our personal preferences. One such small argument that happened in our house last week was over mayonnaise.  Yes, I was shocked to find that my daughter – in a blind taste test – had the audacity to prefer a different mayonnaise than the one that I have raised her on. To her credit, I later found that her preferred brand is produced in Louis...

Micah 6:1-8     1 Corinthians 1:18-31     Matthew 5:1-12 Christianity just doesn’t make sense sometimes. You can take that in several ways. The most obvious is to say that what we do does not always match up to what Jesus commands us to do. Abuses of power and privilege are just as evident in the past and present church as they are in any social grouping. We often remain silent on political realities for fear of ripping ourselves apart. When certain groups or denominations within the Body of Christ do take a definitive stance, you can bet they will be excluding some element of society – and it is rarely those with any power to do anything about it. Nope. Christianity just does not make sense. It does not make sense because it is based on a concept that is simply counter productive – at least by all logical means – the concept of grace. Nestled in between the last phrase of the Prophet Micah’s answer from God is the word “hesed,” which we often translate ...