To Be Like Mary

For any of us, and particularly for those of us embedded in vocational ministry, living life as did Zechariah is all too common. Perhaps you know his story well. Luke 1:5 and following spell it out for us. He is a priest of the Most High God, invited to serve in the Temple in Jerusalem. READ MORE

The Power of a Single Sigma

The Christmas story portrayed in Luke 2:1 and following is well worth the read (or re-read!). It begins, of course, with the famous decree of Caesar Augustus, prompting Joseph and Mary to make their way from Nazareth to Bethlehem. It proceeds to her giving birth to this most unusual child—Jesus—and wrapping him in swaddling cloths READ MORE

A King, A Fisherman, and an Old Woman

Bethel Church is a disciple-making community helping the spiritually hungry experience and proclaim the life-changing power of Jesus Christ. This is what drives everything that we are about as a church family. But what does it mean to be a “disciple-making community,” especially in a world in which the word “disciple” seems so utterly cliché? READ MORE

The Awful Pattern of Sin-Management

A simple review of the center of John’s gospel account gives us a glimpse into the awful drama of sin-management: Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary READ MORE

A Christmas Prayer

One of the features of any Christmas celebration is the longing many of us have to carry the spirit of Christmas into the many long days and weeks and months that follow. How often is it that we think to ourselves that we want to experience the meaning of Christmas ten days out, or twenty, READ MORE

The Anointed King

Just as Genesis 1 sets the tone for all of the Old Testament, so Matthew 1 sets the tone for the entire new covenant given to mankind. In Matthew 1:1 our Lord Jesus is introduced to us as the God who Saves (that is what “Jesus” means), God’s anointed one (that is what “Christ” means), READ MORE