Scripture - Matthew 22:34-46 The requirement that we love God & our neighbor has become so prominent a feature of Christianity that we are apt to take it as automatic. If a superficial application is to be avoided, however, we must struggle to discover what this association of Deuteronomy 6:5 & Leviticus 19:18 meant to early Christians like Matthew. Here it is especially important to remember that what is implied is as significant as what is explicit. Although Matthew places

Scripture - Matthew 22:15-22 The title of this message, “Who should I vote for?” is a question that is on the mind of many people, both Christians & non-Christians. Although it seems that this political season has lasted for years – which it has! – we are getting down to crunch time. We are 16 days from election day. Christians concerned about political issues & church-state relations often turn to today’s reading, hoping to find a principle to guide them through the maze of

Scripture - Philippians 3:4-14 What an ego! What self-absorption! No wonder Paul was hard to get along with & can be hard to warm up to today. Yet he was the one God used. God can take an arrogant, self-absorbed Paul, let his egocentric word tumble out of him & we find a witness for God there. And God can take an arrogant, self-absorbed Francis of Assisi, whose feast day was this week, humble him & make him a saint who still shows us the way to God. I thought of the hymn,