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The Grace of Beginning Again

There is a moment near the end of summer when the season begins to change before the calendar says it should. The afternoon may still be hot, but the morning air feels different. The sun sets a little earlier. A tree that was entirely green last week suddenly has one branch tipped with red. Autumn…
Sunday Reflection – August 30, 2026

. From 2023 Do not tempt me! Matthew 16 21 From then on, Jesus began telling his disciples what would happen to him. He said, “I must go to Jerusalem. There the nation’s leaders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law of Moses will make me suffer terribly. I will be killed, but three days…
Kids Korner: Don’t tempt me (August 30th)

Read Matthew 16:21-28 with your family. Have you ever had someone you love tell you something you really didn’t want to hear? That’s what happens to Peter in today’s story. Jesus tells his friends that going to Jerusalem will be dangerous. Peter doesn’t like that at all. He loves Jesus, and he wants to protect…
What Would Dolly Do?

We woke up this morning in a world without Dolly Parton in it. That is such a strange thing to say. Most of us never met her. We didn’t actually know her. We knew the woman she chose to show us: the enormous hair, the rhinestones, the jokes, the music, the extraordinary talent for drawing…
Sunday Reflection – August 23, 2026

. From 2023 Who do you say I am? Matthew 16 13 When Jesus and his disciples were near the town of Caesarea Philippi, he asked them, “What do people say about the Son of Man?” 14 The disciples answered, “Some people say you are John the Baptist or maybe Elijah[d] or Jeremiah or some other prophet.” 15 Then Jesus…
Kids Korner: Who am I? (August 23rd)

Read Matthew 16:13-20 with your family. Jesus asked his friends a really important question: “Who do you say that I am?” Peter had heard what other people thought about Jesus, but Jesus wanted to know what Peter thought. Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” He was beginning to understand who Jesus was for himself. You hear lots of people’s…
Before we call it “proof”

Every so often, something crosses my social media feed announcing that archaeology has finally proved the Bible true. Noah’s Ark has been found. Evidence of the Exodus has been discovered. Someone has found an inscription with the name Moses on it. The announcement is usually breathless, the conclusion enormous, and the actual scholarship considerably less…
Sunday Reflection – August 16, 2026

. From 2023 Standing in Faith Matthew 15 10 Jesus called the crowd together and said, “Pay attention and try to understand what I mean. 11 The food you put into your mouth doesn’t make you unclean and unfit to worship God. The bad words that come out of your mouth are what make you unclean.” 12 Then his disciples…
Kids Korner: Standing our ground (August 16th)

Read Matthew 15:10-28 with your family. Jesus was teaching people that what makes someone good or bad isn’t what they eat or whether they follow all the right rules. What matters is what comes out of us – our words, our choices, and how we treat other people. Being kind, fair, and loving matters much…
Who told you God was disappointed in you?

Somewhere along the way, a lot of Christians learned that God is perpetually disappointed in us. God is apparently sitting somewhere above the clouds with arms crossed, watching us fail to pray enough, read our Bibles enough, attend church enough, give enough, believe correctly enough, or behave well enough. We have taken “God so loved…