Luke 1:46-55
“The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world” is a poem published in 1865. Of first importance in child rearing is to teach our children how to hear from God, and Scripture is the primary source for that. This morning we will receive an introduction to “SOAP,” a simple and powerful way for the Bible to come alive in your life and in the life of your children.
Today the students in the Confirmation class become confirmed. Hopefully, Christianity has become more plausible to them, having completed the course. It is time for them and all of us to reflect on where to go from here. It’s the first day in the rest of our lives.
John 1:1-18
It is time to draw together the various criticisms we have been examining in “Belief in an Age of Skepticism” and view the story of Christianity as a whole. The Bible has often been summed up as a drama in four acts: creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. They all make up the dance of God.
John 20:1-23
If Jesus rose from the dead, it changes everything, even for non believers. It is not enough to simply believe Jesus did not rise from the dead. A non-believer must then come up with a historically feasible alternative explanation for the birth of the church, among other things. This is a glorious day indeed.
Romans 1:16-24a
The primary symbol of Christianity has always been the cross. The cross is at the heart of our faith. But increasingly what Christianity has considered good news is considered by the rest of our culture to be bad news, even ludicrous and sinister. How do we connect with our culture?
The other issue this morning is religion versus the gospel. Human thinking often confuses Christianity with religion. In reality Christianity is an anti-religion with the way God interacts with us and the way God deals with sin. Don’t let anyone lump Christianity into the religion category. God doesn’t work that way.