The problem of killing – ORANGE

What do you do with someone who has killed another person? In every society ever, this is one of the biggest and most pressing questions.  If everyone just gets to walk around killing whomever they want,  you don’t really have much of a society, and you definitely don’t have much in the way of public [...]

Covenant!

We have arrived at Mount Sinai. No one is really sure where Mount Sinai is, or what it looks like, or anything like that. What we do know is that when the Bible tells us that we are at, on, or around Mount Sinai, we are probably in for something big and holy and important.  [...]

THE Exodus

It’s finally here – the exodus itself, the journey away from what the Israelites had always known and toward a future they couldn’t quite even imagine yet. This is one of the most important stories we have – the story of how God led the Israelites out from slavery to freedom (and conquered a mighty [...]

Welcome to Sodom!

“That evening the two angels came to the entrance of the city of Sodom, and Lot was sitting there as they arrived.”  Yep – remember Lot? nephew of Abraham? Suddenly we understand why Abraham was so concerned about the fate of Sodom. But as we noted yesterday, God has a plan already. God knows that [...]

Un-united

Ok, God, which is it? Do you want us together, one body, one church, unified? Or do you want us apart, scattered, separated? Looking back from our perspective as 21st century Christians, with multitudes of denominations and civil wars splitting countries apart and all kinds of divisions, trying to hold together as one group, one [...]

My brother’s keeper?

Am I my brother’s keeper? That’s the famous question. Some translations have “guardian”; The Message asks “Am I his babysitter?”  But it’s all the same, really – Cain doesn’t want to be responsible for his brother’s well-being. And a lot of times, we don’t either.  It’s easier just to worry about ourselves or the people [...]