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Spirit Guided Relationships (again)
“What is that out there?” I stood on the beach with other people looking far out to the horizon, trying to make out a strange shape we caught glimpses of at a great distance. “Doesn’t quite look like a boat, but it’s way out there.” Offered one bystander. It was just a non-descript object that…
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Spirit Guided Relationships
This Sunday we’ll continue our study in Ephesians, covering a section that has become rather controversial in our contemporary culture. We’ll be reading chs 5:21-6:9, a section where Paul appears to discuss the structure of a familial household. I’m not going to get into this subject too much in this post – but I will…
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An Identity in the Light
Back in my wilder youth there were a few nightclubs and rock venues I would frequent. Once, I had reason to be inside one of those clubs during the daylight hours. To my horror, what had been obfuscated in the darkness was now on full display in daytime brightness. The place was beyond grody. Not…
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E Pluribus Unum
Happy Veteran’s day – thank you to all who have served our country. We all long for the day forecast by Isaiah, when we’ll no longer train for war. This Sunday we’ll be continuing our study in Ephesians (ch 4:1-16), and the theme of it can be embodied in the Latin phrase “E pluribus unum”…
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The Power of Unity and Love
We took a break last week from our study of Ephesians to contemplate a Sabbath rest – but this Sunday we’ll be returning to Paul’s letter, reading Ch 3:1-21. The chapter is broken into two parts – in v 1 Paul starts a train of thought…but in v 2 he interrupts himself to give a…
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It’s all About Identity
One of the things we’ve had to learn in the dawn of the digital age is how to protect against identity theft. It’s certainly something that requires diligence on our part; changing passwords, identifying stop signs to prove we aren’t robots, all sorts of measures are taken to protect our identities. In our passage this…
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Our Ongoing Journey
This Sunday we’ll keep reading Ephesians together, covering ch 1:15-23. Paul will be moving from singing to praying in the opening of his letter. In the section we’ll be reading, Paul will be praying for his fellow believers – and the import of what he prays for is what we’ll be focusing on in our…
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God’s Loving Plan
This Sunday we’ll be continuing in our study of Ephesians, reading ch 1:3-14. Paul’s opening after his initial greeting is actually a poem in the Greek. Translated to English, it doesn’t come off as poetically – it’s actually one really long run-on sentence. As you read over these verses – try to take note of…
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A New Humanity
This Sunday we’ll begin a new series, exploring the book of Ephesians. I’m really excited about this study mostly because I really enjoy this book. We’ll be starting slowly, only reading the prologue found in chapter 1:1-2. Ephesus was a major port city in ancient Asia Minor (modern day Turkey). Paul had visited that city…
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A Present Peace, Purpose, and Passion
This Sunday will be the 9/11 anniversary – a date we will most likely never forget given the way in which that event has shaped our nation and society since. Yet there was another event, many, many years ago which we citizens of God’s Kingdom remember weekly, and the effect of that event on our…