Posts from January 2024

Posts from January 2024

Beginnings and Endings

When novelists write, they labor over the first and last sentences. You probably know some of these already. Dickens started off A Tale of Two Cities with the now famous line, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Orwell ended his prescient work 1984 with the ominous line, “He loved big brother.” There’s also a reason (nearly) every Christian knows Genesis 1:1 by heart. Beginnings and endings frame everything in between. All I need to…

January 2024 – Call and Benediction

Call to Worship Psalm 147:1-6 Praise the Lord!For it is good to sing praises to our God;    for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem;    he gathers the outcasts of Israel.3 He heals the brokenhearted    and binds up their wounds.4 He determines the number of the stars;    he gives to all of them their names.5 Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;    his understanding is beyond measure.6 The Lord lifts up the humble;    he casts the wicked to the ground. This is…