Today we read the Ten Commandments from Deuteronomy 5. How can we read them in a way that doesn't strike fear into us or load a burden on us that we cannot bear to carry?

We continue our series on Deuteronomy, looking at Chapter 4: historical recollections give way to urgent exhortation. Moses reflects on God's presence with and care for Israel, and assures the people that his mercy will never fail. And then he asks this question: Has such a great thing as this ever happened with anyone else? 

Today Dan Kim speaks from Luke 7:11-17, the story of the raising of the son of the widow of Nain from the dead. Jesus says a startling thing to the widow as her son is being brought to the graveyard. He says the same thing to us.

Today we look (quickly!) at the first 3 chapters of Deuteronomy. Moses looks back on the last 40 years of history, and relates both the good and the bad of Israel's past. "The more honest we are in telling the stories of our ancestors in the web, the more we will be able to understand ourselves and the possibilities carried in our emotional DNA for our future.” (Diana Butler Bass, Grounded, pg 157). Moving forward into crisis means understanding that we are a part of a "web of belonging", not just individuals, and being willing to be honest about our past.

Today we begin a 12-week sermon series on the Book of Deuteronomy, the 5th and final book of the Pentateuch. Israel stands on the verge of entering Canaan after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. As Walter Brueggemann says: "Deuteronomy looks both backward to rootage and forward to crisis, and interprets at the precise place where rootage and crisis intersect." That makes Deuteronomy also relevant for our time. Today is the introduction.

Today we read Jeremiah 31:7-14,  together with churches all over the world (a lectionary reading). How do we live when things for which we long so desperately don't happen? When promises don't come true? When it seems like nothing is going well for us?

Today, the day after Christmas, we look at the trip the Magi took to worship the newborn king. Why did they undertake that journey? For what/whom were they longing? Their trip took discipline and commitment over a long period of time. Do we have the same longing for a new world and the same commitment to, as Eugene Peterson put it, a "long obedience in the same direction"?

On this Christmas Eve we consider the shepherds, living their lives in the field outside Bethlehem, who hear the gospel - the good news - that today a Savior is born, who is Christ the Lord. They decide to go quickly, with haste, to see and meet him. Will you do the same?

Today we conclude our Advent series on Lamentations. How do we Lament without turning in on ourselves and becoming hopelessly and helplessly self-centered, sinking into a pit of despair? Lamentations shows us how to turn lament into a work of justice and resisting of evil. And leads us to Jesus, Word become flesh, who dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.

Today we look at Lamentations 3, words spoken and penned by a Man (3:1), a man defined differently than the regular use of the word "man". This is a strong man, a man of valor. He expresses his afflictions and troubles, and then speaks out the only hopeful words in the book of Lamentations: God's faithfulness is new every morning.