Jan 26

When Healing Interrupts Our Expectations

John 5:1–18; Psalm 103:1–5

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
    who heals all your diseases,
Psalm 103:2

We often imagine healing as something gentle, orderly, and predictable. We pray, we wait, and we hope that God will work in ways that make sense to us. Psalm 103 invites us to bless the Lord “who heals all your diseases,” and we tend to picture that healing as smooth and serene—like a warm light settling over our lives.

But John 5 tells a different kind of healing story.

Jesus walks into a crowded place filled with people who have been waiting a long time for change. He approaches one man who has been ill for thirty‑eight years and asks a question that cuts through resignation and routine: “Do you want to be made well?” And then, without ceremony, Jesus heals him—on the Sabbath, no less. The healing is immediate, disruptive, and deeply inconvenient for the people who thought they knew how God was supposed to work.

The religious leaders don’t rejoice. They don’t celebrate the man’s restored life. Instead, they focus on the broken rule: “It’s the Sabbath. You shouldn’t be carrying that mat.” Their expectations of how God should act become barriers to recognizing how God is acting.

This story reminds us that healing rarely fits neatly into our categories. Sometimes God’s grace arrives in ways that unsettle our assumptions. Sometimes healing interrupts our schedules, our traditions, even our comfort. Sometimes it asks us to see people—and God—in a new light.

And sometimes, like the man carrying his mat, healing asks us to step into a new life that others may not understand.

As a church, we are invited to stay open to the surprising ways God brings renewal. To resist the temptation to cling to familiar patterns when the Spirit is doing something new. To celebrate healing wherever it appears, even when it stretches us.

God is still working. And grace still has a way of interrupting our expectations so that new life can take root.

(developed from biblehub.org)

Pastor Greg

Jan 12

Where Does God Dwell?

John 2:13–25, 1 Corinthians 3:16–17,
 Matthew 15:18–20

This week’s scriptures invite us into a profound and searching question: Where does God dwell? For generations, people looked to temples, sanctuaries, and sacred spaces to locate the presence of the Holy. But our readings challenge us to look closer—much closer.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus enters the Jerusalem temple and disrupts everything that has distorted its purpose. Yet the most startling moment comes when he speaks of a different kind of temple altogether. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” His listeners imagine stone walls and holy courts, but John tells us plainly: Jesus is speaking of the temple of his body. God’s dwelling place is not confined to a building. It walks among us in flesh and bone.

Paul extends this revelation to the community itself. “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” Not someday. Not metaphorically. Now. The divine presence is not distant or abstract—it is at home in human bodies, in our shared life, in the very breath we carry.

And Jesus in Matthew reminds us that what defiles is not what enters the body from outside, but what flows from the heart—our words, intentions, and choices. Holiness is not threatened by the world; it is expressed through how we live.

So where does God dwell?

In Christ’s embodied life.
In the community shaped by the Spirit.
In the sacred, imperfect, beloved bodies we inhabit.

(adapted from Biblegateway.com)

Pastor Greg

Jan 07

Devotional Thought: “Where Are You Staying?”

John 1:35–51

When the first disciples begin following Jesus, he turns and asks them: “What are you looking for?” Their reply is simple, almost ordinary: “Rabbi, where are you staying?”

It’s a question about location, but it’s also about presence. They aren’t asking for a lecture or a creed. They want to know where Jesus dwells—where his life is rooted, where his love is lived out. And Jesus responds not with an address, but with an invitation: “Come and see.”

Where Jesus Stays

Jesus doesn’t stay in the places we expect. He doesn’t dwell in prestige or power. He stays in Nazareth, a town dismissed by Nathanael: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” He stays in the margins, among the overlooked, the ordinary, the doubted.

If we only look for Jesus in the places we already approve of, we may miss him altogether. Our prejudices—about people, neighborhoods, denominations, or political identities—can blind us to Christ’s presence. We say, “Nothing good can come from there,” and in doing so, we close the door on curiosity.

Where We Stay

The question also turns back on us: Where are you staying? Where do we dwell—in openness or in judgment, in curiosity or in dismissal? Do we stay in echo chambers, only among those who think like us? Or do we risk staying in places of encounter, where God surprises us through people we didn’t expect?

Hospitality and Curiosity

Hospitality begins with presence. To ask “Where are you staying?” is to say, “I want to be where you are.” But if our prejudices keep us from entering certain spaces or welcoming certain people, our hospitality falters. We cannot embody Christ’s welcome if we refuse to dwell with those we’ve already judged.

Invitation

Jesus’ answer is still the same: “Come and see.”
Come and see where Christ is dwelling today—in the neighbor you’ve dismissed, in the community you’ve overlooked, in the silence you’ve feared. Come and see, and be surprised by grace.

Closing Prayer

Lord, open our eyes to where you are staying.
Break down the walls of our prejudice.
Teach us to dwell in curiosity, hospitality, and love.
And invite us, again and again, to come and see.

Dec 30

First Miracle for the New Year!

John 2:1-11

What do you make of this miracle?  In John we will see the miracles of raising the dead, stilling the storm, healing the blind and lame, and cleansing the lepers.  But this miracle doesn’t seem to fit.  The first miracle for the “Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world”, what does that show his ministry will be?

As we consider the nature of the miracle, providing in the time of need, over providing for the need, and even providing the best for those in need, these are the signs from a generous God in a stingy world.  The wine for the wedding shows the heart of the God that calls all to “come and buy milk and wine without cost.” 

As we enter the year 2026, this miracle causes us to pause and examine our expectations of God.  Do you see a God that grudgingly gives the worst wine when all other is gone?  Do you fear that God will not give you enough for your daily bread?  Do you suspect that God’s gifts come only to others and not to a group of humble villagers just to highlight their privation?  Or do you have a God that supplies out of his abundance? 

This miracle was not known to the majority of the guests at the wedding.  They were given the gift for them to enjoy and celebrate life.  The miracle happened when the servants obeyed the instructions of Jesus.  That is our part.  We live in obedience to God’s way and then enjoy the blessings of God provided in even secret ways. 

This first miracle brought belief to the disciples.  Later Jesus reminds Mary, and I think the rest of us, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”  The call of 2026 is for us to use our faith to see the glory of God present in the simple and everyday parts of our lives.

In One Sentence:
The miracle at Cana reveals the glory of Jesus Christ as the quiet, compassionate, transformative, abundant presence of God who brings new creation and joy into ordinary human life.  (Biblegateway.com)

Have a God-filled and expectant 2026!

Pastor Greg