Luke 22:54-62 {Prayer} Have you ever been caught by surprise in a store? Let’s say one morning your son’s car won’t start, so you get up and drive him into an early morning practice. You haven’t had time to shower or put on anything decent. On your way home, you decide to stop by…
Luke 22:47-53 {Prayer} Today we continue to follow Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. This painting entitled, “The Betrayal of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane” was painted in 1308 by an artist named Duccio. The betrayal. That is what we’ve called it. And that word sums up the event. “On the night when…
Luke 22:39-46 {Prayer} Periodically, our world calls us back to simplicity. Simpler is easier, more profitable, better use of space, they seem to say. Companies downsize. Products are marked as being made with “all natural ingredients.” People are practicing the Paleo Diet. HGTV has shows like “Hot Mess House” which are designed to help…
Luke 22:14-38 {Prayer} The artist Rembrandt tried to paint the story of Abraham sacrificing Isaac. He did it twice. Twice he tried to help others see what faith looks like in that moment. The first time, Rembrandt made a grand painting. This was done early in his life. At that time Rembrandt was…
Luke 22:1-23 {Prayer} Caroline was a woman who had her place. If this was her church, it would there on the right-hand side, near the stained glass window with Luther’s Rose, and closest to the side aisle. That was where she worshiped and to her, that was her place. Caroline’s pastor learned this as…
Luke 15:11-32 {Prayer} Children, children are truly a gift from God. Even in the midst of a temper tantrum, the sassiness, or a full-blown teenage attitude, even though we may think we are being punished for the way we adults treated our parents when we were their age … despite all that … children…
Luke 24:36-49 {Prayer} Nothing intensifies a night out camping quite like a good ole fashion ghost story. Sitting around the campfire with the flames dancing up through the wood casting all kinds of shadows on the trees above and around you, having someone holding a flashlight up from under face, and then tell you…
Luke 22:1:6 {Prayer} Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger, Guy Fawkes, Robert Ford, Judas Iscariot … these four all have something in common with each other. They are all traitors. Marcus Junius Brutus, often referred to simply as Brutus, was a Roman senator who served under Julius Caesar. He is best known from Shakespeare’s…
Isaiah 9:2-7 As we gather this morning, the theme for all of our little devotions focus around this idea of home. In case you didn’t pick up a bulletin or if you are watching this online, let me read part of the opening “As We Gather”. “An old song expresses the yearning well:…
Luke 9:23 (ESV)Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Dear Friends in Christ, You’ve probably never heard of this fellow before, but his name is Dan Mazur. He’s one of the many people who have tried…