Scripture: Ephesians 1:15-23 (NRSVue) Bible commentators over the years have described this first chapter of Ephesians in various ways, as a: gateway, golden chain, kaleidoscope, snowball, racehorse, an operatic overture, and a flight of an...

Scripture: John 6:25-35 (NRSVue) One America’s worst famines is the poverty of attention. We’re distracted with our phones and crazy schedules. We live in an attention deficit culture. As a result, we feel starved for...

Scripture: John 6:1-14 (NRSVue) Five thousand hungry people were looking expectantly at Jesus. Jesus then looks at his disciples and says, “you give them something to eat.” The disciples frantically scraped around for food and...

All Saints’ Day 2023 Scripture: Revelation 7:9-17 (NRSVue) Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is going on now and is celebrated throughout Mexico, but also in Tucson and other places. It’s similar to...

Scripture: Romans 8:31-39 (NRSVue) Romans 8 concludes with Paul’s rapturous sense of confidence and assurance of God’s love, even in the midst of hardship. N.T. Wright writes in Into the Heart of Romans: A Deep...

Scripture: Romans 8:18-30 (NRSVue) A promising high school athlete suffers yet another concussion, dashing their hopes for one day playing in the NFL. A bum back keeps you up yet another night. An innocent person...

Scripture: Romans 8:1-17 (NRSVue) I love how pastor and author Mark Batterson in his book “If“ describes Romans 8 with such vitality and passion: The Great Eight (Romans 8) starts with a big bang: “There...

Scripture: Genesis 48 and 49, selected verses We find ourselves at the conclusion of our series on Joseph: When Dreams Come True. Genesis is about beginnings, but on Sunday we’ll be looking at endings—the twilight...

Scripture: Genesis 45:1-28 (NRSVue) This week we reach the climax of the Joseph story—everything has been leading up to this moment. This band of brothers find themselves in one room together, and it is not...

Scripture: Genesis 42:1-38 (NRSVue) In our journey through Genesis, we last saw Joseph’s brothers when they sold their brother Joseph into slavery for twenty silver pieces (the silver will appear again later in the story)....

Scripture: Genesis 41:1-36, selected verses (NRSVue) This week’s portion of the Joseph story is one of the great reversals in all of Scripture. It’s been a week for us since Joseph was forgotten in prison,...

Scripture: Genesis 40:1-23 (NRSVue) Our story of Joseph continues involving sleep and dreams. Ancient Egyptians were fascinated by dreams. And they had people who studied in dream schools. There were dream encyclopedias that gave definitions...