Scripture - Romans 8:31-39 Holy One, fill our hearts with your Spirit. Open our ears to hear your word proclaimed. Remind us that you are always with us, guiding us to be your faithful disciples. Amen. A woman from here in the south went to visit New York City for the first time. She went with preconceived ideas about crime & violence in the Big Apple. She stayed in a large downtown hotel with an underground parking garage. Late one evening, she returned to the lonely,

Scripture - Genesis 28:10-17 Here in the house of God, let us open our minds, as we listen for the word of God. You all know that Sheryl & I moved in January. The move was a good time to do a closet purge. I do not wear suits like I used to, so I gave a couple of them away. Thankfully, I had the forethought to go through the pockets before putting them on the giveaway pile. And it is a good thing I did; I found a $10 bill in the pocket of one of those suits! It is a wonde

Scripture - Romans 8:1-11 This is the good news! Our Scripture is sheer gospel. So now – because of everything Paul has written in this letter, including what we looked at last week, how doing the ‘right thing’ was a struggle for Paul as much as it is for us – there isn’t any condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The Law, the Torah, which condemned those like Adam, who coveted what was not theirs, does not condemn those in Christ. The conscience, which condemned

Scripture - Romans 7:15-25 Many of us can identify with little Johnny when he brought home his report card. His mother looked at the report card & noticed he had a terrible grade in conduct. When she asked him about it, he said, “Mom, conduct is my hardest subject!” This is true for most of us. We often find it hard to ‘do the right thing.’ This is what the apostle Paul was talking about in Romans 7. He was wrestling with his own soul between doing that which is good & t