by Chris Wiles | Mar 21, 2012 | Faith
“We’re all ok, until the day we’re not. The surface shines, while the inside rots.” (Rise Against, “Audience of One”) In the passage we read in Luke on Sunday (Luke 11:29-54), we saw Jesus encountering the Pharisees. It’s true that the gospels do not portray the... by Chris Wiles | Mar 20, 2012 | Faith
The video is of the band The Civil Wars with their song “Barton Hollow.” You have to love the chorus: “Ain’t going back to Barton Hollow Devil gonna follow me e’er I go Won’t do me no good washing in the river Can’t no preacher-man save my... by Chris Wiles | Mar 15, 2012 | Faith
One of the ways people look for that sense of grounding, or “home” is to connect with the spiritual side of things. And indeed, when we looked at the scene in Luke 11:18-20 on Sunday, we found Jesus standing in the middle of a place that was full of rival religious... by Chris Wiles | Mar 14, 2012 | Faith
Home is a universal human experience – most often in the context of leaving it and finding it again. “Home is where the heart is,” we’re told, and ultimately I suspect the reverse to be true. In either case, this old statement informs us that a commitment to one’s... by Chris Wiles | Mar 10, 2012 | Faith
The following video is “Yahweh,” by the band U2. The name “Yahweh” is one of the primary names for God in Hebrew. It was a deeply personal name, so much so that when the name “Yahweh” was printed, the Hebrews used to switch to the name “Adonai” (analogous to “Lord”)... by Chris Wiles | Mar 9, 2012 | Faith
To finally put the last piece on this week’s series of posts, we need to go back to Luke 5. It’s right after Jesus heals the paralyzed man who’d been lowered through the window. And, as we saw, Jesus calls Levi away from his life as a tax collector to be a disciple... by Chris Wiles | Mar 8, 2012 | Faith
His whole life had been defined by distance. He was an “outsider,” they told him; a Samaritan. To this day he still couldn’t remember all the reasons why he and the Jews would never really get along. “Unclean,” they said, not because of anything he’d done, but... by Chris Wiles | Mar 7, 2012 | Faith
The Pharisees were some of Jesus’ most fierce opponents. They appear in every gospel, and rarely in a positive light. The word “Pharisee” didn’t refer to an occupation – it referred to an ideology or a set of beliefs, like the way we might use “republican” or... by Chris Wiles | Mar 6, 2012 | Faith
In the first century, paralysis rendered you wholly dependent on others for…well, everything. So you can imagine that even family and friends were weary of having to tend to his needs, and would have jumped at hearing that this gifted healer named Jesus was teaching... by Chris Wiles | Mar 3, 2012 | Faith
The background of Jesus’ life’s work comes from the book of Isaiah. In Luke 4:16-21, Jesus walks into the synagogue. It’s no accident that the scroll of Isaiah is handed to Him. Jesus unrolls it, and reads to His audience a few selections from the prophet’s...
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