Consider this

                What do these scenarios have in common?                 Two sisters live within driving distance of one another, but they never get together because every visit degenerates into an accounting of who has more and better stuff.                 Three men make fun of a mutual friend and laugh about how much smarter they are than him.                 After years of buying things that they did not need just to look successful, a family is swimming in debt and have no idea how to get out.                 A pretty girl stares into a mirror and thinks, “If only I looked different!”                 A church leader thinks that he has all the answers.   No one can do anything unless he approves of it.                 In Luke 9:46, the disciples argue about which one of them is the greatest.   Jesus tells them to stop.   Oddly enough, Luke 22:24 says

                Are you interested in starting a long and possibly heated discussion in churches these days?   All you have to do is mention the word “worship”.   In most places, you will get an earful about what is being done or what should be happening – both good and bad.     One of the problems here is that worship has come to mean everything from what Christians do for an hour or two on Sunday morning to our personal, daily commitment to Christ.   With such a wide scope and so many variables in play, there is no way that this short article will sort out any of the specifics (Besides, I do not think I am qualified to do that for you or your congregation anyway).   What I can do is offer you two pictures that may form a good foundation for the rest of the discussion.                 The first comes from Numbers 2.   God has just

                When our oldest daughter got married this past summer, we were fortunate to have lots of family and friends come and spend that day with us.   Some even got to hang around for a while afterwards.   One of those was Sara’s brother Josh, his wife Jeanine and their three kids.                 Soon the question became, “What are we going to do with three little kids for an entire week?”, so we quickly made a list.   On the first day we took them to the splash pads.   The next, we went to the pool at Churchill Park.   Then we ran them around on the rocks at Roche Percee.   We took them to the pool at the leisure centre and to several playgrounds.   We even had a huge Nerf gun battle in our backyard.   In short, we did every fun thing that there was to do.                 Fast-forward six months and I am sitting next to one of the boys at

                 If I was not familiar with the word of God, I would be shocked by some of the events within it.   For example, in one part, God tells a man to take a wife, knowing that she would be unfaithful to him.   The man does so and, predictably, she runs away to live with another man.   In fact, she not only does that, but then prostitutes herself to anyone who will have her.   God then tells the man to find his wife and beg her to come back home.   Then, adding insult to injury, before she can leave, he must also pay for her release.                 Some of you recognize that this is the story of God’s prophet Hosea.   He was told to do these things so that his life would be a parable to teach God’s people about their spiritual unfaithfulness and the extent of God’s love.   While that is the main point, thes

                Just days away from his crucifixion, Jesus was sharing a meal with some friends in a little village outside of Jerusalem.   While he was eating, a woman came in, broke open a very expensive jar of perfume and poured it on Jesus’ head.   Immediately, those gathered began complaining about this woman’s actions and how this perfume could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money could have been given to the poor (Mark 14:5).                 As they continued to grumble, Jesus turned to them and said, “Why are you bothering her?   She has done a beautiful thing to me…. She did what she could!” (verses 6-8).                 I love the line, “She did what she could”.   This woman did not fix every problem.   She did not stop the hate that the religious leaders felt toward Jesus.   She did not take