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Luke 9:49–56 Family feuds can be long and painful. Some people are relieved that they won’t be traveling for the annual family gathering during Thanksgiving. The Jews and the Samaritans were family. They were at one point, at least. Over the generations, things continued to…

Matthew 16:13–17; Romans 10:6–14 In the US, individuality is all the rage, and it has been since at least 4 July 1776. Individuality is not a bad thing, automatically. While there are many aspects to our faith that are indeed communal (and must remain that…

Luke 14:7–14 When I was young, my father insisted on making sure I was appropriately experienced in “high” culture. We went to ballet and opera. My dad said that we were sitting in the Grand Tier (still sounds a bit grandiose). This was the tier…

Luke 7:36–50; Philippians 2:12–16 The scorn of the Pharisees toward Jesus was pretty easy to see. They were effectively declaring that Jesus could not be an actual true prophet, because he dared to accept the anointing by the woman. “If he only knew what she…

Ephesians 1:17–19; Philippians 4:1–9 There is a pernicious thought floating around that if Christians really believed what they say they do; they would all think similarly. Sadly, that often comes from Christians who perceive they are not being heard or perceive that someone with whom…