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Aug 2019
It’s the first or the ‘beginning’ of the signs Jesus performed in the Gospel of John. There are seven of them. Frederick Bruner translates the passage this way: “Now on the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Both Jesus and his disciples had been invited to the wedding, too. And when the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus says to him, ‘They don’t have any more wine!’ And Jesus says to her, ‘What are you trying to do with me,......
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August 11, 2019
The Gate of Heaven
They are among the most fascinating and enigmatic of the Bible’s prophecies: A ladder reaching to Heaven and touching the earth with a multitude of ascending and descending angels; Heaven opened so that God might...
July 21, 2019
Lining Up the Dots
Have you ever wondered why there are colored dots printed on some product packaging or why four colored dots appear in the margins of newspaper print? Those colors are called CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and...
July 14, 2019
Response-Ability
For nearly three years, I’ve been leading a Tuesday morning Bible study attended by residents and staff of our men’s homeless shelter. We have been using a resource titled, Disciples Path: The Journey. Our latest...
July 07, 2019
Be An Andrew!
Andrew is a bit of mysterious figure, unfortunately often lost in the shadow of his larger-than-life brother. We know something about him from the New Testament (all of which is true) and something about him...
June 23, 2019
Are You Morphing Into a Pharisee?
In this week’s sermon, I told the story of a young adult I recently met named Abby who, after learning I was a minister, shared rather candidly, about the judgmental treatment she received when she...
June 10, 2019
The ‘Greatest’ Doubter Who Ever Lived?
John the Baptist is clearly among the most remarkable people who have ever lived. He was Jesus’ forerunner, preparing the sinners to repent and receive their Messiah. John’s portrait of John the Baptist is quite...
June 02, 2019
The Word Became Flesh and ‘Tabernacled’ Among Us
John likes symbolism, as even a surface reading of the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ will readily show. But John’s Gospel has its allusions and symbols too. One of these we find in...
May 26, 2019
A New Creation, A New Garden
“In the beginning was the Word,” is the sublime opening sentence of John’s Gospel. Like the beautiful, yet anxious, faint opening notes of Beethoven’s Ninth symphony, they can barely hold themselves back from the glorious...
May 19, 2019
A Bigger Jesus: Introducing the Gospel of John
Last month (April 27, 2019) my wife Mary and I – along with our grandchildren Jacob and Bella – witnessed the most significant event to occur in Somerset Massachusetts in the last hundred years: the...