Chaos.  Everybody was running here and there. It is no wonder the stories got mixed up. Some thought they saw Peter and John go into the tomb, some thought they had not arrived yet. Some saw angels, or something that looked like angels. Some saw the guards lying facedown and scrambling up with worried looks and making hasty decisions of what to tell the authorities. “Where is he?” You can hear the determination in her voice as Mary Magdalene confronts someone she thinks is the gardener. “Just tell me where he is and I WILL GO GET HIM!” This is not some weak woman speaking. She has come to ..read more

If the first thing you think of when you remember the woman at the well is “the man you are living with now is not your husband,” then you have missed the whole point of Jesus’ visit to this Samaritan woman. The Danvers Statement Affirmation #9 says: “With half the world’s population outside the reach of indigenous evangelism; with countless other lost people in those societies that have heard the gospel; with the stresses and miseries of sickness, malnutrition, homelessness, illiteracy, ignorance, aging, addiction, crime, incarceration, neuroses, and loneliness, no man or woman who feels a pa ..read more

Weighing in on Taylor Swift. Meanness – an old-fashioned word for a modern situation. Meanness is a word we do not use much anymore. We rarely say a person is mean, but it was a common expression many years ago. We all knew what it meant. Mean was what you were when you did something that you knew beyond a doubt that it would hurt somebody, but you did it anyway. Taylor Swift, country music singer, wrote a song about mean that was very popular. The song is about a bully, and we can relate very well to it because those who preach and teach male headship are bullying women. Her song is titled “M ..read more

Jesus is headed to the garden, this time to the garden tomb of Lazarus, where something very important is about to happen. There is to be a resurrection, a small demonstration of what is to come. It is a familiar story. You know it well. You know Lazarus died, Jesus wept, Lazarus came forth from the tomb. And you know that Martha and Mary were at odds with each other because Martha needed help in the kitchen and Mary was sitting down and not helping. “Just the facts, ma’am.” But every story has a back story and that story is most often ignored because the significance doesn’t fit with today’s ..read more

You see, it began with the Garden of Eden and it culminated in the Garden of the Tomb and with the resurrection. That is no coincidence. And it is no coincidence that a woman was the one who was there when the Lord was revealed. It was all leading up to that, of course, but they didn’t see it and I can bet your pastor doesn’t see it either. The scriptures pointing the way have been used for other illustrations if they are mentioned at all. Rarely will you hear a sermon on the four women Jesus chose to lead the way. But first, we must go back to that first Garden. This is a story the Jewish lea ..read more

Franklin Graham had it wrong in 2016. God did not intervene in the selection of the president. Jesus was not concerned about governments, either Jewish or Roman. Jesus was concerned about the heart of the people. As we know from history, the heart of the people can be very hard and unforgiving, lacking justice and mercy. It is doubtful that God would have given this as a Christmas present to us. In a few days, we celebrate the birth of Jesus. At the time of Jesus’ birth, the Jews were looking for a Messiah who would bring the kingdom of God to earth. The great hope of Israel centered in t ..read more

We are in the third week of Advent, which is Joy. Sunday a pink candle will be lit for preparation of the birth of the little boy who would become the Christ. It is fitting that we read the Magnificat. Elizabeth had just told Mary that the baby she carried in her own womb leaped for joy when Mary came into her home, “As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.” And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me bles ..read more

Church on Sunday morning we put aside our family problems, go to Bible Study, and enter into Bible World.  For a few minutes each week, we escape from the real life where we live and live in the past and try to solve their problems of thousands of years ago.  That was a long time ago, and nothing like what we live in today. Sure, they treated women awful and we know the Patriarchs had multiple wives, but that was Then.  We don’t live that way today.   Or do we?   We need to get our heads out of the sand.  The majority of Baptists and other Chri ..read more

Every year at Christmas we look at the world situation and wonder if the angels knew what they were proclaiming when they said “Peace on earth, goodwill among men.” We are not sure exactly what the angels did say as it is interpreted in many ways. The NIV version says, “Peace to those on whom his favor rests.” That sounds Calvinistic, but in the name of goodwill, today we will let that pass. Since that is so, and because I am not a scholar, but an ordinary person reading the scriptures, I choose to read this meaning into those old familiar verses: The angels came to earth announcing the b ..read more

The sun had not yet risen on September 4, 2023, when Dad wakes up after a good night’s sleep. He doesn’t know it, but a Bible Study was just sent out to his local officials, his governor, his state and nationally elected officials, a Bible Study that is deliberately intended to affect his marriage. His wife gets up and starts breakfast and begins to get the kids off to school, and she gets ready to go to work. Another hectic morning. The coffee maker quit working, and there is no warm water to shower with because the hot water heater is on the blink, and Janie left her lunch at home. Mom and D ..read more