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Summer 2023 Bible study: Salvation Now by the Rev. Dr. Anna Madsen
Session One: Promised Salvation Now—Jesus Brings Wellness The New Testament Greek word we translate as “salvation” is “soteria.” Biblically speaking, this word is not so much a reference to the salvation that is granted after one dies, but rather to the health,...
Our holy longing
Making my peace with death and life By Elise Seyfried MANY YEARS AGO, on an elementary school field trip to a local nature center with my daughter Julie, I volunteered to put my hand under an electron microscope for observation by the class. What on earth was I...
Our liberator
by Catherine Malotky OH, GOD, IT WAS YOU WHO BROUGHT US OUT of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You are my source and my liberator. I need your law because being true to you is illusive and hard, a daily commitment, and a path I so easily reframe in my...
God’s gift list
A LIST IS A HUMBLE THING, more dull than not, the basic workhorse of our everyday plans and aspirations. Lists help us navigate everything from “to do’s” to groceries. Living on scraps of paper, tucked within purses and pockets, they earn their keep but aren’t the...
March 2023: Video supplement to “The Ten Commandments” Bible study Session 3
(March 2023) Session three: Sanctity of life and love (Commandments 5 & 6) In our third session, we will review some of the major murders of the Bible. We’ll also delve into the scriptural witness to the spirituality of sex and the covenant of marriage.
A memory you can eat
How food helps me remember by Cara Strickland WHAT DOES MEMORY TASTE LIKE? For me, it’s an artichoke leaf dipped in butter, a glimmer of what is to come when I get to the center—the heart my mom would always prepare for me, cutting off all the green fuzz. It’s a fish...
Wonky hearts
We should not internalize lies about our value and worth. by Kristina Diaz WHEN I WAS 8 YEARS OLD, I liked to paint and draw. Even in kindergarten, when asked to dress up for Career Day, artist was it for me. In third grade, my love for art was still going strong. So,...
February 2023: Video supplement to “The Ten Commandments” Bible study session 2
The Ten Commandments,” a Gather Winter/Spring 2023 Bible study by the Rev. Dr. Christa von Zychlin, includes: (February 2023) Session two: Rhythms and respect (Commandments 3 & 4) February 2023 Session 2 Download the Session 2 video
A recipe for welcome
She escaped Saigon, found a home in Ohio and today teaches Sunday school in Texas. by Kathryn Haueisen HOURS BEFORE SAIGON FELL in April 1975, Eva Nguyen’s family crowded into the last C-130 cargo plane to airlift people out as the North Vietnamese approached the...
A hand when we’re falling
by Elise Seyfried We can all be guardrails. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME you fell out of bed? For a toddler just graduating from the confines of a crib, the answer might be, “Yesterday!” However, for us slightly older folks, sleeping without rolling off the side of the...
January 2023: Video supplement to “The Ten Commandments”
The Ten Commandments,” a Gather Winter/Spring 2023 Bible study by the Rev. Dr. Christa von Zychlin, includes: (January 2023) Session one: Dancing the Decalogue (Commandments 1 & 2) January 2023 Session 1 Download the Commandment 1 video
What makes us worthy?
by Karris Golden The fact that we are all children of God. THERE ARE THINGS I BELIEVE, based on information, feelings and experiences, that make sense to me. I can define and describe these beliefs, even if I cannot fully or adequately explain my reasons. Likewise,...
Warming up to Leviticus
Learning why this book matters by Jennifer Ginn WHO LOVES THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS? Given the challenge to study an Old Testament book, most people of faith would skip Leviticus every time. It’s legalistic, full of the blood of sacrificed animals being spattered on...
Worthy, grateful, healing
by Dorothy Probst READING THROUGH THE BIBLE, with a guided plan last year, I was struck by the book of Leviticus. Prior to this, I’d quickly skimmed the pages of this Old Testament book, bored with Israel’s detailed sacrifices to God, as I understood God to be “back...
May 2023 devotional: Love in action The art of intergenerational hospitality by Sarah Carson
Love in action The art of intergenerational hospitality by Sarah Carson In writing to the Romans, Paul advised this early Christian community: "For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body...
Sharing our gifts
by Linda Post Bushkofsky MY FATHER WAS A WELL-LOVED rural letter carrier, so when it came to Christmas, people on his route would remember him with all kinds of gifts. Throughout December, Dad would receive homemade fudge and fruitcake, bottles of aftershave, boxes of...
This Advent, be an auntie
by Lisa A. Smith THE FIRST TIME I BECAME PREGNANT, I found out early Christmas morning. Perched on the side of the bathtub, I held my breath, waiting to see how many lines would appear on the test stick. There were two lines! I was elated. I told no one. I had stuff...
Wonderfully hidden
by Elise Seyfried God, unlike camouflaged creatures, really wants to be found. “Those who have found God in the cross of Jesus Christ know how wonderfully God hides himself in this world and how he is closest precisely when we believe him to be most distant.” —...