Genesis 18:1-15 Once my mother forgot that she invited a guest for dinner. We were midway through our meal at the kitchen table when the doorbell rang. There he was, all dressed up and smiling, prepared to be a dinner guest. My mother was acutely embarrassed, as well as panicked. But she reacted quickly. She immediately gathered us all together to go out to a nearby restaurant with our guest, as though she had planned it that way all along. For the first and only time in my life I was encouraged to eat a second dinner – a special treat. My mother was a delightful hostess all through the meal, and all was well. I always found it remarkable that she was able to recover so well and turn a near crisis into a very enjoyable evening. This was an unusual experience, but actually, hospitality was an ordinary everyday […]
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Do You Want to Be Made Well?
Revelation 21:10; 21:22-22:5 John 5:1-9 One of my favorite places in the world is a pool in Austin Texas called Barton Springs. Barton Springs is a natural limestone pool that is fed by an underground stream – the Edwards Aquifer. The water is constantly bubbling up into the pool from what they call the mother spring, which is located under the diving board. The constant flow keeps the water a cool 68 degrees year-round. No matter how hot it gets, and it gets really hot, a dip in Barton Springs is refreshing. There are people who can be found at Barton Springs every day. They go to swim laps in the 900-foot-long pool, or just to sit on a rock and chat with friends. There are people for whom this is church. There is something about these waters that seem to bring healing to the body, mind and soul. […]
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Isaiah 7:10-16 ; Matthew 1:18-25 It is good that we have a Sunday in Advent devoted to remembering Joseph. Joseph, the man who is the father – yet is not the father – of Jesus; Joseph, who doesn’t even get a mention in two of the four gospels; Joseph – the man who raised the Son of God. How he must have struggled with emotion in those early days. When he learns that the young woman he has chosen for his wife is somehow pregnant. And he knows it wasn’t him. How he must have fought down all kinds of feelings while he struggled to determine how he would respond to this news. He knew, of course, that the law would support him if he chose to have her publicly exposed and condemned as an adulterous woman. Because even though they were not yet married, they were betrothed to one another, something that was as […]
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