Elijah the Prophet      For our Jewish friends, the Passover supper is the most important meal of the year.  It is known as the Seder.  At the table that evening there is always an empty chair and, on the table, an empty wine glass.  This place is reserved for Elijah who just might come in […]

     The Gospel of John includes several collections of the sayings of Jesus that are not found in the other three gospels.  Some of these sayings are said to be from his public teaching but the audience for most of them consists exclusively of his inner circle of disciples.      As we revisit these familiar […]

     After several years of traveling from synagogue to synagogue in the part of the world we know as Greece and Turkey, the Apostle Paul was planning a preaching mission in Rome, the imperial capitol.  He had received many reports of the growing Christian community in that city.  Like all the other early Christian communities, […]

Saul, Israel’s First King In the Old Testament, we find many stories of the key figures in the history of ancient Israel.  One of the most interesting of these is the story of Saul, the first king of Israel.  It is a story in which God changes His mind twice.  First, he allows Israel to […]

The Sermon on the Mount In the early chapters of Matthew’s Gospel, we find a collection of the teachings of Jesus that are traditionally referred to as the “Sermon on the Mount.”  Matthew tells us that Jesus traveled throughout the region known as Galilee teaching in synagogues and the open air.  As his reputation spread […]

Wednesday Morning Bible Study Summer 2019 The Book of Job Guided by Bruce Johnson           This summer the Wednesday Morning Bible Study Group will be reading and discussing some of the poems found in the Old Testament Book of Job.  In these poems, some of the great mysteries of our faith tradition are explored.  The […]