Every May my denomination, the Evangelical Congregational Church, has a conference for all pastors and for one representative from each church. At the conference we attend worship gatherings, business meetings, and hear reports about what God is doing throughout the life and ministry of the denomination. From what I have heard from other denominations, ourContinue reading “Should a church bar its members from taking communion? – John 7:53-8:11, Preview”
Tag Archives: communion
Decoding Jesus’ disgusting “eat my flesh, drink my blood” teaching – John 6:52-71, Part 4
Jesus has just told a crowd of his followers that they need to eat his flesh and drink his blood. How did the crowd feel about this bizarre teaching? I think they felt disappointment, confusion, frustration, and maybe some disillusionment. Just the day before he had miraculously fed a crowd of 5000+ people, and theyContinue reading “Decoding Jesus’ disgusting “eat my flesh, drink my blood” teaching – John 6:52-71, Part 4″
Why it is important to view communion as so much more than remembering – John 6:52-71, Part 3
If you’ve been to a Protestant church the picture above is probably familiar. A table with an open Bible, and the inscription, “This Do In Remembrance Of Me.” What does it mean? Read the Bible to remember Jesus? No. The inscription is referring to a phrase Jesus’ said to his disciples at their Last Supper,Continue reading “Why it is important to view communion as so much more than remembering – John 6:52-71, Part 3”
How Indiana Jones got Jesus wrong – John 6:52-71, Part 2
In the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indy is trying to find the Holy Grail. A legend states that the Grail is the cup that Jesus used at the Last Supper. The legend goes on to say that Jesus’ followers collected some of his blood the next day when he was on theContinue reading “How Indiana Jones got Jesus wrong – John 6:52-71, Part 2”
How Christian worship can become idolatry – Ezekiel 6, Part 4
“That’s not worship!” The person saying this to me was sitting across the table from me, while we were having a worship meeting in our church conference room. The person was a long-time member of the church, and they were upset. We had been experimenting with worship, and they declared that one of the experimentsContinue reading “How Christian worship can become idolatry – Ezekiel 6, Part 4”
What churches need to be devoted to (and a building is not one of them) – Acts 2, Part 5
What would your church do if God brought revival to your church and in a relatively short time period thousands of new people started coming to your church? What we have seen in the first church was that 3000 people were added to their number that day in Acts 2. If that happened to us,Continue reading “What churches need to be devoted to (and a building is not one of them) – Acts 2, Part 5”
Religion/Ritual bad, Relationship good? [False ideas Christians believe about…God’s desires for Christians. Part 2]
Is religion automatically bad? Some Christians are very anti-religion because they feel it goes against the concept of relationship. But does it? Read James 1:26-27, and you’ll see James suggest that religion is not only a viable way to view our connection with God, but that God approves of religion that has a heart forContinue reading “Religion/Ritual bad, Relationship good? [False ideas Christians believe about…God’s desires for Christians. Part 2]”
The OT Law is not for us [Should Christians Observe the Old Testament Law – Deuteronomy 21-25, part 2]
Are Christians supposed to follows the laws found in the Old Testament? In part 1 of this series on the various in Deuteronomy 21-25, we saw that there are some very curious and bizarre laws, leaving us wondering why God would want his people to observe those laws. Thinking about all the laws in theContinue reading “The OT Law is not for us [Should Christians Observe the Old Testament Law – Deuteronomy 21-25, part 2]”
The beginning of the end for Jesus
This is it. Thirty-three years of Jesus’ life has led up to this moment. We’ve covered the life of Jesus, as told in the Gospel of Luke, through our sermon series which began on November 30, 2014, with Luke chapter 1. Nearly 70 sermons later, we have 7 left. After learning about his birth andContinue reading “The beginning of the end for Jesus”
How and Why we surprised our congregation on Sunday – 1st Corinthians 11:17-34
We surprised our congregation during worship on Sunday! It was great! At the beginning, I set up the congregation for coffee break. Once or twice each month, after worshiping God through singing, instead of having our open mic sharing time and prayer, we open the folding divider between our sanctuary and fellowship hall and askContinue reading “How and Why we surprised our congregation on Sunday – 1st Corinthians 11:17-34”
Let's Talk About Sunday 