(July 10, 2022) “Summer in the Psalms: Psalm 63-Longing for God”

from Psalm 63

Walter Bruggemann says of the Psalms: “On the one hand, Israel’s faithful speech addressed to God is the substance of the Psalms.  The Psalms do this so fully and so well because they articulate the entire gamut of Israel’s speech to God, from profound praise to the utterance of unspeakable anger and doubt.  On the other hand, as Martin Luther understood so passionately, the Psalms are not only addressed to God…They are the voice of the Gospel, God’s good word addressed to God’s faithful people.”

Where do you need to be given permission to be honest with God? With what you are feeling. With your frustration. With sadness, or disappointment, or fear, or anger. With great joy and thanksgiving. This summer journey with us as the reality of what it means to be human collides with the goodness and unending faithfulness of God.

w/ Jeff McClain

“Summer Reading-John: The Bread of Life” (June 17, 2018)

from John 6:35-59

“Desire” is not a word we use often in the church…somehow it has come to mean something bad…after all, isn’t it our desires that lead to sin…that lead to choosing things that are less than what God wants for us?

In our passage this week, Jesus isn’t challenging the crowd on having desire, rather calling them to consider that perhaps their desire is simply misplaced.

We spend a great deal of time and energy trying to satisfy our need to be fulfilled with things that at the least will only leave us hungry for more, and at worst will steal life from us…but what if we could find our desires fulfilled in something or Someone Who will not only satisfy us, but give us life?

“Come and eat and be filled…”

w/ Vern Collins