Pentecost 24 1 Samuel 1:1-20 Isn’t it amazing how many Bible stories are about babies, beer, and new beginnings? Bible stories are a lot like country music where the basic formula always includes certain things - like losing your pick-up truck, your dog, your house, and your wife. As the old Rascal Flatts song goes, “What do you get when you play a country song backwards?” You get your house back, you get your dog back, you get your wife back… Country music is the music of real-life people living through all the real-life challenging experiences of being human, and Bible [READ MORE]

Pentecost 25 Mark 13:1-8 On opening day of my last Little League season, when I was just twelve years old, I came up to bat in the first inning and somehow managed to hit a foul ball that traveled right back up the bat and whapped me directly in the right eye. I crumbled in a heap at home plate, momentarily unconscious. It was a mishap that landed me in the hospital for four or five days, and left me with a shiner like you wouldn't believe. Needless to say, I never again really appreciated the urging of my [READ MORE]