Letting Our Feet Leave the Ground

Genesis 12:1-4a | Psalm 121 | Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 | John 3:1-17

Jeremy Richards

Sarai is 65 years old – 65 – when God calls her and her husband Abram to leave their home in Haran. They’ve built a life there. They buried their father, Terah (yes, Abram and Sarai had the same father), there. He’s got a nice plot in the church cemetery. Maybe Abram, Sarai, and Lot have all bought their plots next to Terah’s. Surely they’ve planned to stay there. 75 and 65 might not be that old in the book of Genesis, but they aren’t necessarily spring chickens.

Trusting God in the Wilderness

Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7 | Psalm 32 | Romans 5:12-19 | Matthew 4:1-11

Jeremy Richards

“This story was told: There were three friends, serious men, who became monks. One of them chose to make peace between men who were at odds, as it is written, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ (Matt. 5:9). The second chose to visit the sick. The third chose to go away to be quiet in solitude. Now the first, toiling among contentions, was not able to settle all quarrels and, overcome with weariness, he went to him who tended the sick, and found him also failing in spirit and unable to carry out his purpose. So the two went away to see him who had withdrawn into the desert, and they told him their troubles. They asked him to tell them how he himself had fared. He was silent for a while, and then poured water into a vessel and said, ‘Look at the water,’ and it was murky. After a little while he said again, ‘See now, how clear the water has become.’ As they looked into the water they saw their own faces, as in a mirror. Then he said to them, ‘So it is with anyone who lives in a crowd; because of the turbulence, he does not see his sins: but when he has been quiet, above all in solitude, then he recognizes his own faults.”

Transfiguration

Exodus 24:12-18 | Psalm 2 | 2 Peter 1:16-21 | Matthew 17:1-9

Jeremy Richards

You are walking…up a mountain…with Jesus.

He’s ahead of you. The heal of his left sandal is almost worn through. His feet are caked in mud and filth from walking throughout Galilee, into Phoenicia, Decapolis, and Caesarea Philippi, and then back to Galilee. The edges of his cloak are frayed. His dark skin is even darker from the dirt and campfire smoke that’s collected on it over the past few days or weeks, you’ve lost count of how many days it’s been since you slept in a warm bed.

Foundation

Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18 | Psalm 119:33-40 | 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23 | Matthew 5:38-48

Jeremy Richards

For better or worse, my dad and I love to give each other a hard time. My dad especially loves to tease people. So what I’m about to reveal to you is totally in keeping with the relationship we’ve always had. I’m not a horrible person.

There are a few stories – only 2 or 3 – where my dad, well, let’s just say missed the mark. And it’s become expected, you might even say it’s become a tradition, for me to bring these stories up at some point whenever he visits. There’s always something that will prompt a story. Maybe he’ll give me a hard time about something and I’ll respond, “Well, remember that time…” or if we’re out and we see something that prompts one of these stories I might bring it up.

River of Life

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 | Psalm 119:1-8 | 1 Corinthians 3:1-9| Matthew 5:21-37

Jeremy Richards

As a child, I used to sing the song “Spring Up O Well.” Do any of you know it? It’s pretty simple. It goes like this:

I’ve got a river of life flowing out of me

Makes the lame to walk and the blind to see

Open prisons doors, sets the captive free

I’ve got a river of life flowing out of me.

Spring up, o well (splish splash), within my soul!

Spring up, oh well (splish splash), and make me whole!

Spring up, oh well (splish splash), and give to me

That life, abundantly.

Gettin' Down

Micah 6:1-8 | Psalm 15 | 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 | Matthew 5:1-12

Jeremy Richards

Watch video: https://youtu.be/HnQ89jZvZD0

In the song we just listened to – “Getting Ready to Get Down” – Josh Ritter tells the story of a young girl whose parents and pastor are beginning to worry about her. Apparently, she isn’t fitting “proper Christian girl” mold, so they send to a “little Bible college in Missouri” thinking a Christian education will straighten her out.

The Knowledge of Jesus

Isaiah 63:7-9 | Hebrews 2:10-18 | Matthew 2:13-23

Jeremy Richards

We love to put things in categories, don’t we? We love to draw boundaries, to section things off. It’s how we understand the world. We divide everything! Cities into neighborhoods, animals into species and sub-species, academic subjects into specific schools of thought (continental philosophy vs. analytic philosophy), and so on. But there’s nothing we love dividing more than people. We divide people up by race, gender, sexuality, culture, class, country of origin, ability, hair color, musical preference, hobbies, and the list goes on. Just think of high school: you’ve got the classic categories like nerds and cheerleaders and jocks. And then you’ve got sub-categories – not just jocks but the soccer kids and the basketball kids and the baseball kids.