This past Sunday I surveyed our congregation about their daily prayer and bible reading. Forty people responded: — 19 said YES/YES — 16 said NO/YES — 5 said NO/NO These results are both encouraging, and an encouragement to find ways to help those who feel it is important but are not doing it yet. As…
Author: Norm
A safe place for kids!
THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 10:13-16 “The kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” (Mark 10:14) Children have often been disregarded or discarded, used or abused in history. They are weak, dependent and victims of whatever is passed on to them. God’s heart breaks for such as these, and Jesus reveals God’s love for them. Creation…
Divorce always causes pain
THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 10:1-12 “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law.” (Mark 10:5) Making a commitment to someone, and sticking to it, can be hard. But a marriage vow, freely made, should be honoured and maintained. There are times when that is difficult, if your partner does not keep…
Taking sin seriously!
THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 9:42-50 “And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out.” (Mark 9:47) Jesus is talking about the seriousness of sin. His words seem extreme – pluck it out, cut it off – but that is the point. Sin, like cancer, requires severe treatment – amputation, chemo or radiation. Jesus describes…
Bridges, not barriers!
THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 9:38-41 “Whoever is not against us is for us.” (Mark 9:40) As we follow Jesus, we have more allies than we realize. A person does not have to be “one of us” to be an ally. There are many ‘denominations’ of Christians, yet we are one in Christ. And even non-Christians can…
Survey: What is a disciple?
This past Sunday I surveyed our congregation with this question: what is a disciple? The call of Jesus is to make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). But if we do not know what a disciple is, how can we make them. If we as a church do not have the same idea of what a disciple is, how…
Wanting to be great?
THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 9:30-37 “They had argued about who was the greatest.” (Mark 9:34) What do Christians argue about? We tend to argue more about being right more than being great. We may not insist on being first, but we will boast in how God is blessing us! Our successful churches, or programs, or numerical…
Deeper, stronger prayer
THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 9:25-29 “This kind can come out only by prayer.” (Mark 9:29) Some versions include the words ‘and fasting’. Fasting is an intense way of praying; I see the words as repetition. Somehow the disciples were not able to drive out the spirit (v.18). They had done so on other occasions, what was…
Depends who you believe in!
THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 9:14-24 “Everything is possible for one who believes.” (Mark 9:23) Is this ACTUALLY true, can believing make the impossible possible? Can I jump off a cliff without wings, and fly if I believe? It depends in part on who it is we believe in. If I believe in someone weak, I cannot expect…
Still lots we don’t understand!
THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 9:9-13 “They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant.” (Mark 9:10) Being with Jesus must have been an inspiring yet confusing time. They were seeing and hearing amazing things, things never even imagined possible. And Jesus was constantly challenging their ways of thinking about things. They’d been…