This is the third Sunday in Lent, and I have tried to think of ways to reflect on the quality of our lives as disciples of Jesus without being depressing, morose, bitter or morbid, and walking around like we’d lost our last friend on earth. And yet, when we do consider some of the things we need to, we can get on kind of a “downer” can’t we? Today’s passages all touch one another in speaking in some way about what we call “repentance.” If you’ve been around the Baptist patch for a while (and some other nearby “patches” are… Continue reading →

Just before those famous lines we sang as a call to worship about “those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength,” we can read why their strength needed to be renewed: “Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young shall fall exhausted.” In sum, life is hard, so people who would make it through need to wait upon the Lord. That word “to wait,” comes from a word for a line or cord, stretched tight. The verb to wait here means to be “stretched tight, or taut” waiting to see what happens. It is an eager… Continue reading →

Just before those famous lines we sang as a call to worship about “those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength,” we can read why their strength needed to be renewed: “Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young shall fall exhausted.” In sum, life is hard, so people who would make it through need to wait upon the Lord. That word “to wait,” comes from a word for a line or cord, stretched tight. The verb to wait here means to be “stretched tight, or taut” waiting to see what happens. It is an eager… Continue reading →

I have never been one who thought of the Lenten season as a time to be morose and brood about sin. Believe it or not, I grew up thinking that Lent in that way was not a part of my Baptist tradition. It was only later that I learned that some Baptists think of very little else than sin – usually someone else’s. Much later I learned that the name “Lent” itself is derived from a Middle English word for “spring,” which, in turn, was derived from the lengthening of daylight hours we begin to experience now. I think that’s… Continue reading →

Today is the Last Sunday in Epiphany. Epiphany, as we said when we began it, is the season of the church year when we follow the story of how Jesus was shown to be the Messiah and the Saviour of the World. The Last Sunday of Epiphany is traditionally called Transfiguration Sunday. Next week we begin the Lenten Season, when we trace the steps of Jesus to the cross. Light is a key symbol during Epiphany, and Jesus’ transfiguration uses that symbolism extensively, so it’s a fitting climax.

In my own mind, the scripture lessons for today present some obvious… Continue reading →