Isaiah 50:4-9a | Psalm 31:9-16 | Philippians 2:5-11 | Matthew 27:11-54

Jeremy Richards

How did I get here? This question from the Talking Heads is an important one. Many a book and movie finds its premise in this question. Many stories begin with a protagonist in an unexpected place, not knowing how they got there, and the point of the story is to uncover their journey. Because they don’t know who they are if they don’t know how they got there.

Ezekiel 37:1-14 | Psalm 130 | Romans 8:6-11 | John 11:1-45

Jeremy Richards

How many of you have ever done an internship?

Usually internship are somehow related to our education. The way it usually goes is we take a class on theory and then we put that theory into practice through our internship. A common example of this is student teaching, right? I wasn’t an education major, but my dad was a teacher and I had friends in college who were education majors. The students quite literally become the teachers in student teaching. They take 3 years of classes, and then they’re put in front of a classroom full of elementary or middle school or high school students, under varying degrees of supervision depending on the teacher who they’re working under, and expected to, well, teach!

1 Samuel 6:1-13 | Psalm 23 | Ephesians 5:8-14 | John 9:1-41

Jeremy Richards

Well, I’m about to try to illuminate this text from John for you. I’m hoping, by the grace of God, to help us “see” it better. But this puts me in a tricky spot, because our Scripture ends with this statement by Jesus: “If you were blind you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.” Maybe I should just play it safe, say I don’t know what this story’s about, and we can all go home free from sin!

Exodus 17:1-7 | Psalm 95 | Romans 5:1-11 | John 4:5-42

Jeremy Richards

After being here nearly 6 months, I finally decided it’s time to really move into my office – to make it my own. So we went where everyone does to find decorations: Ikea. We thought about what we needed to make the space beautiful. Of course, I needed pictures, and we got a small little throw to go over one of the cabinets, but we need something else – something alive. We needed plants.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.