by Brendan Wickstrom | Aug 13, 2023 | Uncategorized
In the 90’s and early 2000’s there was a dramatic rise in books and movies about the end of the world. Many of these cultural artifacts, however, were more preoccupied with current events than the Bible. In today’s passage, we take a closer at one of...
by Brendan Wickstrom | Aug 6, 2023 | Uncategorized
In an amazing twist, Jesus informs us that anything that is held on to ‘for dear life’ outside of making him our entire life will ultimately sour and never satisfy the way he does. Putting our entire trust and hope in Jesus is the real only way to have life and have...
by Brendan Wickstrom | Jul 30, 2023 | Uncategorized
Jesus failed to match expectations that religious leaders had for the Messiah. They expected to see power and affluence and authority; he showed weakness and humility and smallness. This week’s parables make clear how God moves in ways we might consider upside down....
by Brendan Wickstrom | Jul 23, 2023 | Uncategorized
This week’s story works on two levels. On one level, it is an easily accessible story of reversal – the rich (or self-reliant!) becomes poor and the poor becomes rich. On a second level, it communicates the great Christian truth that Jesus (who is rich while being...
by Brendan Wickstrom | Jul 16, 2023 | Uncategorized
The story from today’s passage often gets ignored. Why? Because it depicts a wasteful and unrighteous manager, on the cusp of being fired, acting “shrewdly” to the detriment of his employer…yet his employer commends him. What? How can such a guy get praised? How can...
