As Patrick Barber explained on “Easter” Sunday the early church was not into annual celebrations such as Christmas, Easter, etc. That which is traditionally observed on Easter was observed by them each first day of the week and so should we. I have put the word in quotes because Easter does not occur in our English Bibles except in the KJV [mis]translation of Acts 12:4 where king Herod, having killed James resolves to kill imprisoned Peter after pascha. The correct translation is Passover. Nevertheless, we still have annual Easters.

Is life this & that & then & other? According to Forest Gump’s mother, “Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you are going to get.” Is life merely a series of random events which we humans are left to try to make some sense of?

Someone reads aloud Acts 8:26-40. A “Phillip” runs up asking, “Do you understand what you are reading?” Would you like that Ethiopian ask, “How can I unless someone guide me?” What questions would you ask? After thus entering the world of that text, and returning to our world today, we may have several questions.

You may recall the story of the above exclamation in Acts 8:26-40. Two men are traveling south on the road to Gaza. One is an unnamed Ethiopian official and the other is a preacher named Phillip. Who are they? The Ethiopian is a foreigner. He is a worshipper of God and a reader of Scripture. Somewhere he had acquired a scroll of Isaiah, perhaps in Ethiopia. As any student, he had some unanswered questions. Then comes the wonderful exchange: “Do you understand?” and “How can I unless someone guides me?” He asks the perennial question, “Who is the prophet talking about” in this passage on a Suffering Servant (Isa. 53)? But this eunuch had a very personal question. He had read ahead to Isa. 56 where foreigners and eunuchs were included as servants of the LORD (56:3-7). Can I be included among the servants of God? I suspect that was the hindrance in his mind when he asked for baptism. We are not told about their ensuing conversation. The original text simply says that both went down into the pool of water and Phillip dipped the Ethiopian, no hindrance!

Recall the episode that sealed King Saul’s fate as Israel’s true king described in 1 Samuel 15 and that classic statement on obedience and sin (1 Sam 15:22-23). The Amalekites were under a ban and Saul was commanded to destroy king, people, and cattle (Ex. 17:14). It is repulsive to us as Christians for God’s king to hack Agag to pieces and that failing for Samuel, a prophet and priest to do so. Perhaps it was because of God’s just decree to destroy those who had assaulted his people during their escape from Egypt – Amalekites who followed the escaping slaves to cut off stragglers in the rear (Dt. 25:17-18). God will enact justice.

As many of you know I have a Day-Timer. Recently I asked, “Have you seen my lost Day-Timer?” I found it and put my February calendar in it. The heading on the first page is To Be Done in February 2024 –Number Each Item. On Feb. 1 the heading is To Be Done Today. Apparently, that business-man depicted in James 4:13-17 had a “Day-Timer.” His had a page for the coming year: “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit.” But James says to that arrogant boaster your Day-Timer is defective. It needs a page with the heading, If the Lord Wills, We Will Do: Number Each Item.

I have been going back and forth from James to Revelation, from a book written circa A.D. 56 to one written A.D. 96. Perhaps the reason is that both are dangerous books that make me/us uncomfortable in our A.D. 2024 world when we take their messages seriously. Also, both have been interpreted is a variety of ways.

The Revelation is dangerously misinterpreted so please indulge me this “tongue-in-cheek” interpretation of those “three foul spirits like frogs” who assemble kings of earth for battle at Armageddon (Rev. 16:13-14). First the story of the frogs that grace the bridge into Willimantic. Settlers living near a swamp SE of Willimantic heard rumors of an impending night attack. Armed to fight the enemy, they hear alarming sounds coming out of the swamp and fire at the sounds. Next morning all they found were some dead frogs. So atop those thread spools that recall Willimantic as the thread capitol of the world sit four benign frogs.

James pronounces a blessing on those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere by being doers who act on what they see (James 1:25). He goes on to say that we must act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty (2:12). Before we can look into that liberating law, we must look for that elusive law. We may be thinking of law as a legal pronouncement or code of laws, but in this practical and ethical book, James follows the Jewish understanding of law as Torah or teaching. What is this liberating teaching? Many candidates come forward in Scripture: 1) The New Testament rather than the Old Testament, 2) The wisdom of the Proverbs, 3) Isaiah’s promised liberation of captives (Isa. 61:1-3) fulfilled by Jesus (Lk. 4:18-22), 4) Jesus’s teachings in the Sermon on the Mount, and 5) Paul’s teachings of freedom for Gentiles who confess crucified Jesus as Lord (Gal. 5:1; Rom. 8:1-2).

Gregory Stevenson opens his commentary, “Revelation is a dangerous book.” 1) “The strange symbolism of the book is a combustible mixture that often explodes into misinterpretation and abuse,” 2) “When interpreted faithfully the book of Revelation remains dangerous because it does not allow Christians to be comfortable in this world.” Richard Oster begins his commentary on the letters to the seven churches (Rev. 1 – 3) with a similar statement: “John’s messages in Revelation was too controversial and too unreasonable for those wanting to be at peace with the aspirations and mores [ethics] of the surrounding urban cultures.”

For those who like annual calendar religious ceremonies my calendar has Christmas Eve, New Years Eve, and Epiphany for the past three Saturdays. Epiphany? What is that? In some religious traditions it comes after the 12th day of Christmas to celebrate the visit of the Three Kings from the east to see him who has been born king of the Jews (Mt. 2:1-12). The Greek word epiphany means to appear or make manifest. It is not used in Matthew’s story but is frequent in Paul’s last letters, Titus, 1 & 2 Timothy. I asked myself, what if we followed the liturgical calendar and observed this Sunday as Epiphany what scriptures would we read and what lessons would be taught?

I wish to recast a song from one of Angela’s Christmas albums, “I just want an old fashion Christmas,” to “I just want an old fashion New Year’s celebration”. I walk back down memory lane 26 years to recall those wonderful New Years parties hosted by Jim and Sandy Bell. Going back 60 years I remember a New Years celebration in New Bedford, RI. Small churches in eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island gathered to sing praises to God, remember their past year of ministry and cast visions for the year to come. In 1963 I came alone to announce that Joyce and I have a daughter four days old. Her name is Joy Carol – a “Joy to the world.”

We are created to live in a storied world. We are part of a story that begins before us and goes on after us. What we do as a community and as individuals is important. Ever since we told our stories at our 50th anniversary, I have been drawn to the story that is told by this worshipper in Deuteronomy 26:5. Should our worship today be more a story-telling event? If so, how?

On the wall downstairs is a crude scroll entitled, “The Storrs Road Story.” In telling that story we discovered who we are and declared who we wanted to become. The telling of our story enabled us to participate more faithfully and more fully in God’s story. At least this was and still is my thesis.

I love the traditional Thanksgiving song, Come Ye Thankful People Come, #729 in our songbook. I hope that we sing it Sunday and often during the year to come. Not only does it echo Ps. 100, it celebrates the work of our Creator on the Day 6 as He fashioned the earth (Gen. 1:29-30). Also, there are three unnoticed Thanksgiving Songs in Scripture that we need to sing – Rev. 11:15-19; Deut. 26:5-10, & Eph. 5:3-4.

I have a problem. I want to create a Thanksgiving dinner. Shall Joyce and I rise early to bake biscuits and cornbread, break them into pieces to combine with onions, celery, and seasonings. Stuff that into a plump turkey to bake 3 hours and make gravy from the drippings and giblets. Serve turkey, dressing and mashed potatoes and gravy and Joy’s green bean casserole. Is that good or shall I simply buy a “Tofurkey” and forget that messy work?

This statement by the 17th century philosopher, Rene Descartes, is understood by many as the essence of skepticism. Others point to it as the beginning of rationalism, that is, the existence of everything can only be comprehended by a rational process or it may not exist. What do you think?

Disciples of Jesus must learn to think as God thinks, not as man thinks. A pivotal point in the Gospel of Mark is when Peter confesses that this Jesus whom he had been following for the past two years was God’s Messiah, the Christ (Mk. 8:27-30). We may imagine that at that point he and the other disciples have solved the question of who Jesus is (4:41). But Jesus began at that same point to teach his disciples that he must suffer, be rejected, and be killed, and he would rise again. Ignoring that last statement, Peter rebuked Jesus, face to face for saying such things about the one he has just confessed as God’s anointed king. Jesus whirls around and puts Peter behind him saying, “Get behind me Satan!” The problem was that Peter and the other disciples were not thinking like God thinks but like humans think. This becomes the focus in Mark, and in Matthew. Jesus, confronts, challenges, and conflicts with his disciple so that they may learn to think and act like God, not humans.