Jeremiah 29:1-14 “For surely, I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD, “plans for your welfare and not for harm, plans to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me.” This is the promise...

Isaiah 9:1-7 Chances are, you have come upon the classic Mister Rogers’ meme trolleying its way around the internet. It’s become the thing to say in the days after a hurricane, or a mass shooting, or a raid that rips apart families. It’s what we offer each other, when...

1 Kings 19:1-18 After the stint in the wilderness, after the sigh that shook the leaves on the only tree, the LORD found Elijah in a cave by the mountain. That’s when God asked him the best question anyone could ask: What are you doing here? Say it one way, it could...

1 Samuel 16:1-13 God sees the people’s need! This is the chorus of our scripture today, the refrain that keeps being true, that keeps needing to be said out loud. God sees the people’s need. Imagine a storybook snowy day. Inside, there’s a wrinkled grandmother baking...

1 Samuel 3:1-21 The way I imagine it, the story ends with Eli sitting at a table. The steam is rising from his untouched cup of tea. Sunlight is spilling in through the window. Off in the distance, a donkey is braying, but Eli can’t hear it. He has just gotten the...

Exodus 3:1-15 The most frightening prayer that I know how to say goes like this: Here I am. I don’t know if you’ve ever said that to the LORD or if you’re planning to, but there’s nothing neutral about this one. For one thing, it means we’ve been found. Might as well...

Introduction to the Scripture In just a few minutes, we’ll hear the story of Jacob fleeing from trouble that is hot on his heels. I can’t hear this Bible story without also hearing Nina Simone’s rendition of Sinnerman. Oh sinner man, where you gonna run to? All on...

Genesis 21:1-3 and Genesis 22:1-14 What I love about being the church is that each of you can see something of God that I hadn't seen before, and maybe, I can see something of God that you hadn’t noticed. Now what we’re doing here is murmuring to each other: Oh come...

Genesis 1-2:3 and Psalm 46 Way back, before the beginning was the beginning, darkness covered the face of the deep. Now whenever you hear the Bible talk about the deep, the first thing it means is water and the next thing it means is chaos. In the Bible, the water is...

Genesis 2:1-3 and Deuteronomy 5:12-15 One of the delicious joys about being a pastor is, more often than not, you get to choose how to allocate your time. It’s not a job that comes with a standardized set of tasks to perform. Some pastors go to every single meeting,...