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On April 9, 2009,
in Home,
by admin
Dear Church Family and Friends,
Movie plots often begin with someone “upsetting the apple cart.” It might be a kidnapping. It might be an assassination attempt. It might be an alien invasion. Whatever the case may be, this initial action sets up a conflict and the rest of the movie keeps us on the edge of our seats as we wait to see how the conflict will unfold and eventually come to a resolution with the bad guy losing or the aliens being sent back into space.
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First Hebrew Scripture Reading—Exodus 35: 30-35
Second Hebrew Scripture Reading—Exodus 37: 1-9
Michelangelo’s fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome is considered one of the greatest works of art in the world. Yet, what sometimes goes unrecognized is that it was created in rather difficult circumstances. Michelangelo’s boss was none other than Pope Julius II, who at times could be a bit demanding. On one occasion, he had Michelangelo brought to him with a rope around his neck in order to seek a pardon. With his sins then wiped away, Michelangelo was ordered to sculpt a gigantic bronze figure of the pope. Later, the pope visited Michelangelo as he worked from the top of his scaffold in the Sistine Chapel. The pope asked when the painting would finally be completed. To which, Michelangelo responded that he would finish when he could. For such impertinence, the pope threatened to have him thrown off scaffolding.
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On September 19, 2008,
in Home,
by admin
Hebrew Scripture Reading—Psalm 98: 4-9
The writer Wendell Berry once wrote, “I don’t think it is enough appreciated how much an outdoor book the Bible is.” Berry believes that the Bible is a book “best read and understood outdoors.” When I first read this, I assumed that Berry was referring to the many references to nature in the Bible, but Berry was instead thinking of how nature can give one a newfound appreciation for the miracles of life. Outdoors there are miracles all around us. There are the miracles seen in the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. The miracles of the Bible “seem merely natural” when placed beside these miracles. “The turning of water into wine” is a small miracle in comparison to “the greater and still continuing miracle by which water (with soil and sunlight) is turned into grapes.”
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