by Dennis Stevenson | Jan 30, 2022 | Uncategorized
Happy Sunday, We all know and love the Apostle Paul. He’s the guy who wrote so many of the books of the New Testament. He’s the hero that explained salvation and how we are to be the church. Quite the guy. But his back story is surprising considering how...
by Dennis Stevenson | Jan 23, 2022 | Uncategorized
What will you learn from a teaching team like that? January is starting to wind down. If you have goals for the year, by now you should be able to see elements of that goal in practice. That’s how you can have confidence that you’re on track to make...
by Dennis Stevenson | Jan 16, 2022 | Uncategorized
Happy New Year! As 2021 wrapped up I thought I had a really nice rhythm going. Then I wrote about goals in 2022 – and immediately fell off the wagon and lost the beat. There’s a lesson here. We do what is important to us. If you want to know what your...
by Dennis Stevenson | Jan 1, 2022 | Uncategorized
Welcome to 2022! While most of us are probably glad to put 2021 behind us, a new year awaits. I’m sure we all have some kind of idea of what we’d LIKE it to be (no Covid, no masks, just getting on with things), it will be what it will be. Not very...
by Dennis Stevenson | Dec 31, 2021 | Uncategorized
Happy New Year (eve)! A Bible verse looms large in my mind today: Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. — Ephesians 5:15-16 As today is the last day of the year, it naturally...
by Dennis Stevenson | Dec 25, 2021 | Uncategorized
On this day of celebration, I wish you and yours a hearty Merry Christmas! In Genesis 1, God created everything and declared it good (exactly what He wanted). In Genesis 2, Adam chose the way of Death. In Genesis 3, God promised a Redeemer who would set things right...
by Dennis Stevenson | Dec 22, 2021 | Uncategorized
Luke 2 brings us the iconic image of the angelic host. Or as I like to call it, the Angel Choir. When Luke describes the choir, he used the greek word “plethos” – our Bibles translate it as “multitude”. I think it’s the root that...
by Dennis Stevenson | Dec 19, 2021 | Uncategorized
At last we come to the fourth Sunday of Advent. If you’ve been following the full tradition and lighting candles around a wreath, today you light the final one, and create that beautiful staggered ring. Today we remember the angels. Of course we started the...
by Dennis Stevenson | Dec 16, 2021 | Uncategorized
The Advent story seems to follow a kind of logic that isn’t too hard to follow… All the world must be taxed (Caesar) Joseph and Mary go to their ancestral home (Bethlehem) It’s a popular place and no vacancy signs lead to a stable. Baby is born, must...
by Dennis Stevenson | Dec 12, 2021 | Uncategorized
Today we celebrate the third week of Advent, and the theme is JOY. As my kids were growing up, we focused on the Shepherds this weekend. Typically we would take a shepherd figurine from a nativity set as the object lesson to focus the children’s attention. The...
by Dennis Stevenson | Dec 8, 2021 | Uncategorized
The Bible really happened. Real people with real experiences in real places. This principle can be hard to apply to the event we know as “the Enunciation”. Which is a big fancy Latin word for the announcement of the birth of Jesus. Yes, a young girl...
by Dennis Stevenson | Dec 5, 2021 | Uncategorized
This weekend marks the traditional second week of Advent. All around the world 2nd candles are being lit. What does that mean? Advent is designed to draw our attention and focus our thoughts on the season of Jesus’ birth. It’s not just “a...
by Dennis Stevenson | Nov 28, 2021 | Uncategorized
The Pharisees are the religious leaders we love to hate. In the gospels we see them time and again pitched against Jesus and the side of truth and good. But let’s stop for a moment to regroup. Yes, history paints the Pharisees in a bad way. But in...
by Dennis Stevenson | Nov 28, 2021 | Uncategorized
I know it’s still November, but through the strange magic of the calendar, today is the first Sunday of Advent. What is Advent? The name itself means “coming.” This is a clue to the actual meaning because Advent is the celebration of the coming of...
by Dennis Stevenson | Nov 27, 2021 | Uncategorized
It is an unfortunate side effect of our modern era that nearly everything you do requires a password. I just checked my password manager and it is presently remembering 308 online passwords for me. My guess is that you probably have over 100 that you have...
