I don’t know what will happen when we die. Among Christians, there is more than one theory, all based on what’s in the Bible. Some believe that it has all been predestined – who will go to heaven and who will not. Others believe that it has something to do with how good you’ve been,…
More than 600 years before Jesus was born, King Josiah ruled the land of Judah. He was the last king of Judah to be faithful to God. His father and grandfather had been horrible rulers. Under their reigns, many of the people had turned to idolatry. So, when Josiah became king, he tried to transform…
At the start of the chapter, there were people following Jesus. They had seen him heal people who were sick and they wanted to see what else he could do. They wanted to experience more miracles and they were looking to Jesus to be the miracle maker. Unfortunately, when they started following him, they didn’t…
One of those ongoing debates had to do with the words of institution at communion. In most Lutheran congregations, the pastor presiding at communion uses the words of Jesus, “Take and eat, this is my body. Take and drink, this is my blood.” These words have been key to our understanding of the sacrament for…
For the next five Sundays we will be hearing about bread. Along with Jesus, bread will be the star of the show. Jesus will bless bread. People will eat bread. People will chase after Jesus to get more bread. And Jesus will also say that he himself is the Bread of Life.
If you search through the Bible you won’t find the word “Trinity” in any part of the book. Today’s gospel is a rarity in that it shows Jesus talking about all three persons of the Trinity in a single story. Yet, it’s not a theological discussion on how it is that one God is in…
So what is God like? If you ask children and even some adults, they might tell you that God is an old man with a long white beard in a long white robe, sitting in a big chair somewhere up in the clouds.
It may feel rather backwards chronologically, but our gospel for today doesn’t come from one of the post-resurrection Easter appearances of Jesus, but from his final conversation with the disciples on Maundy Thursday. It was written however, for a community that was surely in need of Jesus’ good words.