Dear Friends, As they were listening to this, he went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. So he said, ‘A nobleman went to a distant country to get royal power for himself and then return. He summoned ten […]
Devotional
A Word of Grace – Jan 2, 2013
Dear Friends, The year is turning and it is time to move on. Our God is the Creator. Therefore our way is always forward. Our Lord is the Savior. Therefore he calls us to the future. He leads us away from the past and does not preserve it. Because our God is the Lord, confusion […]
A Word of Grace – Dec 17, 2012
Dear Friends, And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn (Luke 2:7) What if Jesus had been born in a luxurious palace surrounded by attendants and guards? What if he had been […]
A Word of Grace – December 12, 2012
“God can use anyone.” That’s what I was often told in childhood. Many of you were probably told the same thing on the principle that we need to be ready and open to serve God in any circumstance. What does this mean in practice? What does a life useful to or used by God look […]
A Word of Grace – Dec 3, 2012
Dear Friends, This message is based on a journal entry I made on a visit to New Mexico in November of 2011. . . . The dry cottonwood duff crunches beneath my feet as I walk to the bank of the upper Rio Grande in the late autumn twilight. An icy north wind hints of […]