Preachrblog

John 20:19-31 (esp. 30-31) “What is the Purpose of Scripture?” “These things are written”, the Apostle John writes, “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” What is the purpose of Holy Scripture?  To teach us about God?  To show us how to live our lives?  Morality?  Basic instructions before leaving Earth?  Is the Bible a rule-book to thump over people's heads?  Is it a decoder-ring with all the answers of life, if you just read it the right way?  Or is it just a collection of different writings with no purpose, or at least no central purpose at all? Setting aside the questions of “is it true?” “did it really happen?” or “is it truly God's word?”, (To all of which we say, “yes”, of course).  What I'm asking is – what is the Bible FOR?  What is the purpose?  What's it supposed to DO, if anything? If it's simply a rulebook, then it's not a very appeali...

Christ is risen!  (He is risen indeed, Alleluia!) You are here this morning because Jesus Christ has defeated death. Easter is not about bunnies and chocolate, duckies and egg hunts.  It's not a celebration of spring and the new life of nature's usual cycle of rebirth.  It's not just a time to put on your best outfit and do a traditional family thing.  Easter is easter, because it is the resurrection of our Lord.  We are here today because Jesus laid down his life, and Jesus took back his life again, leaving sin and death in the dust.  Christ is risen!  (He is risen indeed, Alleluia!) I've noticed that at funerals, there's usually a story.  The story that the mourners tell, sometimes over and over, about what led up to the loved one's death.  “We were eating dinner, and he was having chest pains...” or “We had just come to the hospital when mom suddenly took a turn for the worse.”  It seems to be part of the grieving process, to wa...

Oh the weight of the cross... Piled and heaped high to the sky. With a million, million sins and more. Coveting leers, stinging hurts, rivers of tears. The filth 2 zillion eyes have caressed. All the lies you can find in every lexicon of death. The buckets and vats and seas of blood sin has shed. The tsunamis of tears wept for loved ones now dead. Add the snide, the sniveling, the insults for fun. The gossip mongering, the cursing, cutting lashes of tongue. Throw on the blasphemy, the cacophony of all the silent, uncountable little gods. All shame, all indignation, all mock outrage, all failures and frauds. Oh, the weight. Smothering. Soul-crushing. Cosmic millstone. A singularity of pain. I could go on, but I can't. But he does. Oh the weight of the cross, Pressing down on the Son, the One, The only one with the shoulders holy enough to bear it. The only one with the righteousness, the merit. A spotless lamb, the world bearing down. A...

Lenten Midweek 6 “The Saints of Lent” Lucas Cranach and Albrecht Durer – Artists (April 6) Hebrews 4:16 As our midweek series on the “Saints of Lent” comes to a close, we might look back for a moment to those we have considered in these 6 weeks:  Matthias, the replacement apostle about whom little is known, who nevertheless faithfully fulfilled his appointed office.  Perpetua and Felicitas, early Christian martyrs who died while firmly refusing to renounce their faith.  Patrick, a great missionary who returned to Ireland to preach Jesus to his former slave masters.  Joseph the Guardian of Jesus, obedient and faithful, protector of Mary and Jesus.  And then Joseph the Old Testament patriarch – a model of forgiveness and a shadow of the Christ who was to come.  They are men and women from various walks of life, different vocations, in different times and places.  And by their very diversity they remind us of the far-reaching scope of salvation, that...