Specifics of context make all the distance in understanding the advice to the early church. What are our specifics, and how do they guide the advice we give?
Acts concludes with Paul's implicit charge to future followers: go forth among the Gentiles. In our world, we are the ones to heed his call to examine our own hearts…
As we welcome new members into Ankeny UCC, we look to Paul's outreach to followers of John the Baptist and understand how the diversity of our faith journeys changes us…
Paul's message to Athens is not only that God has always been with them, but also that we are called to do more than just talk.
Lydia, who ran into Paul on a business trip, saw in the message of Christ an opportunity to change her life by risking her reputation and providing Paul a place…
We always must remember how many gifts of the spirit are dedicated to listening and communicating. In the midst of an oppression that is the legacy of a country founded…
In a more theological sermon, we examine Paul's arguments about resurrection and ask whether the argument he makes reflects our lived experience. After all, there are many different ways to…
Through a mirror, dimly, we see the world. So often, our reactions to others are reflections of how we see ourselves. Paul reminds us that we need to grow into…
Paul complaining about division in Christianity is a little funny to careful readers, but his warning to avoid tribalism in our thinking is sound.
Sometimes in Christianity, the only meaning of Jesus that is said to be important is his death. But Jesus lived and embodied life, and rose again, and meaning may be…
As the church and minister prepare to go on sabbatical, Paul exhorts us to be assured of God's love, because God loved us and came in the form of Jesus…
On our Sunday recognizing servant leaders and graduates, we talk about our core identity as a church that Cares Within. Sometimes that means listening, sometimes that means leading, sometimes that…
In our church identity statement, we profess to be a church "serving beyond." As the context of church changes, each generation must understand how we are called to go beyond…
Philemon, the shortest book we have in the New Testament, is a straightforward letter inspiring and troubling at the same time. In it, Paul uses all of his considerable powers…
We practice an open table in Ankeny UCC, meaning, all are welcome to take communion. Why do we do that, when Paul seems to argue that we need to have…
Paul shows us the service that Christ gave us, by emptying himself of the powers and pretensions of God to live with us and lead by serving us. We have…
In prison, Paul shows thanks for the care given by the Philippians, for the love expressed in their actions. We are reminded that care and love require us and inspire…
The implications of the Gospel are always understood in translation. We see how they were perceived in first-century Rome. What are they today? Note: Even at the time, the anecdote…
