Rev Chris Roth

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16; Psalm 22:22-30; Romans 4:13-25; Mark 8:31-38 In Abraham’s time, gods were associated with geography and aspects of nature. So, you would have a sky god, an earth god, and a water god, a god of the moon, a god of the sun, a god of storms, a god of wisdom, and a god of the city of Babylon. … The gods weren’t associated with individuals. So, God calling Abraham and being associated with his family was a new concept. This God is the God of Abraham. God will be known as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God has attached Himself to this family. Abraham was called out of the biggest and most advanced city in the world. God says,  “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you” (Gen 12:1).  Abraham isn’t given the whole plan. He is asked to trust God. He is asked to have faith. He is asked to exchange the life he had for what God was promising to give him. God says,  “I will make of you a great nation, an...

  Genesis 9:8-17; Psalm 25:1-9; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:9-15 Our readings today are inviting us to think about baptism. Lent arose as a time of preparation for baptism at Easter. Our gospel reading is once again circling back to the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. It is a gospel reading we had in Advent, when we focused on John as the forerunner to the expected Messiah. … We had the reading again in Epiphany, where we focused on the revealing of the Trinity as we heard the voice of the Father declare Jesus as the beloved Son, as the Spirit descended on him like a dove. And now, as we enter Lent, we have this gospel reading once again. This time we also read about Jesus being tempted by Satan in the wilderness, though we aren’t presented with the detailed temptations that we get in Matthew and Luke. We just see that he was tempted for forty days, and was with the wild beasts, and the angels waited on him. … Some have seen this as referring to Jesus being...

Mark 9:2-9 This is the last Sunday of Epiphany. It started with the visit of the Magi, and then the Baptism of Jesus where the Holy Spirit descended on him and the voice of the Father said,  “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Mk 1:11).  … Throughout this season we have been reading passages of Scripture that have been giving us glimpses of who Jesus really is. People have ‘epiphanies’ as they see Jesus teach and heal, and as he casts out demons who identify him as the Holy One of God. Our reading today, at the peak of the season of Epiphany, is the Transfiguration of Jesus. This reading is introduced by an unusual healing of blindness, which is a bit of a hint towards healing spiritual blindness. The healing is at Bethsaida (Mk 8:22-26). Jesus leads the man outside the village, and when he first heals him, he has a partial healing of his sight. Then Jesus lays his hands on his eyes and his sight is fully restored. … Right after this two-stage healing Jesus ...

Isaiah 40:21-31; Psalm147:1-12, 21; 1 Corinthians 9:16-23; Mark 1:29-39 Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is a fascinating peek into how Christians in the early Church were trying to live out the way of Christ. I want to explore this a bit more generally this morning. In the first century, there was an advantage to becoming a follower of Jesus as a Jewish person living In Israel. A person who grew up in a Jewish society at that time meant that they spent their whole life being shaped by the Scriptures and the rhythms of their religion. The rhythm of society would have largely encouraged you to keep your mind on God. You would have seen people around you praying and fasting regularly, and you would probably feel a societal pressure to do so. Little boxes containing pieces of Scripture called Mezuzahs would have been fixed to the doorframes of houses as a reminder of their covenant with God, and the commandments they had been given to direct their lives. On the Sabbath everythin...