U-turns Permitted

Today we look at the responsibility we all have to make the daily life choices necessary to maintain the dance of God, His Land and His People. The Book of Leviticus lays out what that meant for Israel in the land of Canaan in great detail. While the specific guidelines of Leviticus may not all be applicable to us today, the themes are: God dwells among us, calls us to walk in justice with each other and to care for His creation.

Today Dan Kim leads us in exploring the story of the manna in Exodus 16. God sent the manna because Israel was hungry and they complained. But there was more going on than that - Israel needed to be taught that, contrary to the Empire of Egypt, all our food and everything we need is a gift from God, not to be acquired by exploitation of people, animals or land. And because we live as a gift from God's hand, we are able to rest.

Today in our series "God, His Land and His People", we look at Genesis 1:26-30, often known as the "Cultural Mandate". There is much here to learn, especially about what it means to be caretakers of creation and join in the dance to which God invites us. It's also challenging, because so much of who we are as western culture seems bent on destroying that creation.

The 2nd part of the introduction to the series "God, HIs Land, His People". We will be looking at 6 theses or foundational perspectives upon which the Old Testament prophets based their prophecies to the people of Israel. They help us understand how God sees His relationship to human communities, non-human life and the non-living creation. You can find the theses referred to in this sermon by clicking here.

Today we start our Winter 2021 sermon series looking at Old Testament themes: God in sacred relationship to His Land and His People. This is the first of two introductory sermons in which we lay the groundwork for our study. Today we read parts of Jeremiah 32. For more information on sources click here.

At the beginning of 2021 we read Hebrews 12:7-17 together, which speaks of God teaching, training and disciplining us. Our image should not be that of an angry father, but of Jesus Christ who came to be with us and show us the way. How can we follow HIm this coming year?

Today we conclude our Advent/Christmas series on the Light that came into the world with Jesus. We look at 1 John 1:5-8 which speaks of how we can walk in the light in our lives today as followers of Jesus.

Tonight we follow the Magi as they follow the star, as told in Matthew 2. Their purpose was to worship the newborn King of the Jews.

Today we read Luke's version of the Christmas story in his Gospel. We focus on how the Light shines on all people, as part of God's work of reconciling all things to HImself, and how that gives us hope and a reason to live in dark times.

Dan Kim leads us in understanding how the Light of the World helps us through the darkest of times with verses from the Gospel of John.