Giving is usually good. But it also has its shadow side.

Guest preacher Rev. Scott Agur considers the story of Jesus calming the storm.

Giving is often thought of as a burden. But what if we thought of it as an act of true freedom?

For us, talking about money is like walking on eggshells. We’ve gotta be very careful. But like in so many other places in the Bible Jesus. According to today’s passage Jesus’ preference is less about tiptoeing over or around our eggshells. His strategy seems to be to stomp them into oblivion.

How do we reconcile the Bible's cultural assumptions about women with our

convictions about equality?

“What is both Good and New about the Good News is the wild claim that Jesus

did not simply tell us that God loves us even in our wickedness and folly

and wants us to love each other the same way and to love him too, but that

if we will let him, God will actually bring about this unprecedented

transformation of our hearts himself." -Frederick Buechner, "Wishful

Thinking"

God's love for Jonah's enemies shows Jonah's love is too small. Are we

prepared to accept God's love for our own enemies?

"Truth be told, our own lives are lived between these two cities, whether

we know it or not. Our natural instinct is to try to get ahead. To survive,

to protect ourselves. To look out for our own well-being, the good of our

families, the cohesion of our group. To find comfort, to avoid stress.

 This survival instinct… well, it helps us survive. It keeps us alive. But

is it enough?"

"It may first sound like bad news. Because according to Pentecost, is that

with this living God there’s nothing we can do to gain the kind of joy, the

kind of life, the kind of power we long for. So much religion is about

manipulating the divine into giving us what we want. Bad news is that

there’s no sure-fire technique to gain it. Because God works in God’s own

time.

"Evangelism has a bad rap thanks to people’s bad experiences. Which has

made many of us timid at best, terrified at worst about sharing faith."