What does Scripture look like on the streets? Here are reflections from regular folks in our church, sharing how each Sunday’s text relates to your everyday life.
Ascend With Unity
For a long time I’ve liked the music and imagery of verse two of Psalm 133 in the ESV translation: It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! I was so in love with that precious...
Ascend Toward Contentment
I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with its mother; my soul is like a weaned child. (Psalm 131:2) This is one of my favorite word pictures in the Bible. A nursing child will sit on his mother’s lap and literally pull off his mom’s clothing trying to...
Ascend Toward Hope
This is a particularly rich Psalm. Not “rich” like expensive, but more like highly nutritious spiritual food. Reformer Martin Luther counted Psalm 130 as one of his four favorite Psalms. “They teach us that forgiveness of sins is granted without the law and without...
Ascend with a Mission
Remember, O Lord, in David’s favor, all the hardships he endured (Psalm 132:1) Time is going to pass and our energy is going to run out whether or not we live missionally. Getting distracted and chasing fantasies will not put any more food on the table (Proverbs...
Ascend with Your Family
How happy is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways! (Psalm 128:1) Arthur Brooks is a Harvard professor and author who does research on happiness. He identifies four essential habits of the world’s happiest people. The psalmist also mentions a number of...
Ascend with Dependence
Because of the space limitations of Bible on the Block, I’m only going to focus on verse 1 of this Psalm. But, to truly start at the beginning, please note that the author of this Psalm is King Solomon, the son and heir to the throne of David. Solomon was a man of...
Ascend with Stability
Wendell Berry begins his poem, “The Peace of Wild Things,” “When despair for the world grows in me.” It’s not if, but when the narrator of the poem feels the grip of such thoughts, he says: “I go and lie down where the wood drake / rests in his beauty on the water,...
How Could A Loving God Send People to Hell?
In this section of Scripture the Roman Procurator, Pontius Pilate, is trying to determine how to dispose of the “problem” of Jesus. He is thinking about his job of keeping peace in the province of Palestine, of keeping the local authorities of the Sanhedrin...
Why is the Resurrection a Big Deal?
Jesus’ embodied presence was the medium of his ministry - he willfully operated within the confines of human experience and connected with people in this way. Often, he offended the deeply held beliefs of many through matter and physicality: eating and drinking with...
Can’t I Just Pursue God on My Own?
I pray also for those who will believe in me . . . that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. (John 17:20-21) Suppose that you had lived and worked in a...