Nov 18

I Know the Plans I Have For You

Jeremiah 29:1-14

For I know the plans I have for you,
declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil,
to give you a future and a hope. (Jer 29:11)

This verse imprinted on coffee mugs, posters, t-shirts, key chains, and many other memento items is given regularly to mark a new time in a person’s life.  Graduation, a new move, a new job—all these get the encouragement from Jeremiah 29:11.

Would Jeremiah have made it onto as many coffee mugs, posters, and shirts if people read chapter 29 carefully?  Sellers of merchandise pluck verse 11 out of context and offer a seemingly appealing affirmation.  Buyers of the merchandise clutch on to the assertion that God has a plan for their welfare and for hope.  Perhaps those who display verse 11 hope that God’s plan includes improving the outward circumstances of their lives.  As the old saying goes, most people carry burdens and fight battles very few others know of.  The promise of welfare designed by God sounds good.

No one, however, slurps coffee from a mug bearing verse 10, about the long wait before the welfare happens. This chapter does offer important instruction about divine activity in our lives, even if we ought to exercise caution about expecting welfare on our own terms. Even if this passage does not support warm fuzzy feelings about how God will make things turn out our way, it teaches something most Christians need to learn.

God assures those in captivity in Babylon, that they have a long time ahead of them, but no matter where they are, God has a plan for them.  The presence of God is not signified by everything going well and our lives finding comfort.  No, even when the news is hard to hear, “you will be there for 70 years,” we are assured that God is present and God is in control.

Pastor Greg

Nov 04

What Changes our Society?

Seek good and not evil,
    that you may live,
and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you,
    just as you have said.
Amos 5:14

One of the greatest distinctions between the Bible and other religious texts is that the Bible calls the followers of God to seek life.  Deuteronomy 30:15-20 encapsulates this idea for us to build upon.  “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity…”  This passage is a dramatic covenantal choice: obedience leads to life and blessing, disobedience to death and curse. Verse 19 urges, “Choose life so that you and your descendants may live.”

Amos reaffirms this principle and expands it.  Whereas Deuteronomy could be seen as calling just to personal piety, Amos 5 takes it into the public sphere.  Amos 5:14 is not a vague moralism but a public summons.  It challenges Israel’s elite to abandon exploitative systems and pursue justice in concrete ways. The prophet’s call is not about personal virtue alone—it’s about structural transformation.

Too often the church is satisfied with our personal piety, even pious views about what should happen in society.  We retreat to our rituals and the security of our traditions thinking that this alone will bring God’s favor to us.

Amos proclaims that ritual and conformity alone is not the reason God promises life.  It is an ordered society with the principles of God’s law as the societal norm.  When we have that then—” But let justice roll down like water and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

Pastor Greg

Oct 30

Have You Ever Seen a Prophet in this Bad of a Shape?

I Kings 19:1-18

Many commentators and preachers are amazed when they see the great Prophet Elijah in the condition he is in here in this chapter.  He had just vanquished the worshipers of Baal, ended a 3-year drought, and started a revival in the nation of Israel.  But he is discouraged, even to the place that he wishes he would just die.  What catches the attention of so many as we study this part of the Bible, is that it happens to us also.  This is where we see human vulnerability in its most honest times. 

Where have you felt like Elijah—alone, exhausted, ready to give up?  It happens to each of us.  It is part of our human experience.  What surprises me is the way God deals with Elijah.  He is not condemned or judged for feeling this way.  He is not chastised for not keeping his faith strong.  God cares for the prophet, be giving him rest, refreshment, and restoration.  Elijah finds himself away from the threats and dangers, and alone with God.  In his depression, God gives him a revelation of who God is.  Not a wildfire, not a raging wind, not even an earthquake, but a sound of shear silence, or a “still, small voice.” 

When we come to the end of ourselves, we want God to do something miraculous, earthshaking so that our problems disappear.  Though that is rarely how God works.  God works through his presence in the quiet places, his voice in the silence, and his assurance that he is with us.  Maybe when we come to the end of ourselves it is for us to just be quiet and listen for the assurances of God. 

When you are tempted to say, “Woe is me!”  Rest, refresh, and let God restore you with the encouragement you need to finish the tasks that God has for you.

Pastor Greg

Oct 22

“The Weight of Knowing”

Reflections on 1 Samuel 3 and Hebrews 10

As we reflect on last week’s scripture, (1 Samuel 3) we are invited into a hard truth: “grace is not a loophole. It is a gift—and gifts can be refused.”

Thinking back to our Sunday School days, this story is told as a little boy running back and forth to Eli.  We think that it is a great for kids, but I am not a kid.  But UCC Theologian Dr. Walter Brueggemann sees 1 Samuel 3 not just as a call story, but as a theological pivot: the moment when God’s word reenters a community that had grown numb to it. He writes that “the word of the Lord was rare” not because God was silent, but because the leadership had grown deaf—Eli’s failure to restrain his sons was symptomatic of a broader spiritual malaise.

Tragically, Eli’s sons knew the rituals but not the reverence. Just as the people addressed in Hebrews10:26-31, knew the gospel but not its gravity. In both stories, the failure wasn’t ignorance—it was willful neglect. And the consequences were not just personal—they were communal.

The Word of the Lord is not a take it or leave it option.  The vengeance of God is a real thing.  We like the quote in Romans 12:19, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”  Here it is talking about our compassion in the face of injustice.  But in Hebrews 10:30, it is talking about how God will judge his people.  For it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Eli and his sons experienced the justice of God for their abuse of their spiritual office and responsibilities.  But the application is not just for them, it is also for us, if we ignore the Word of the Lord and the responsibilities that the call of grace has upon us.

Let us reflect on this warning, may we ask not just what we believe, but how we live it. May we listen like Samuel, speak truth like prophets, and lead with integrity like Christ.

“Where have I been silent when God was speaking?”

Pastor Greg