Lifted Up

Our lectionary readings today bring us two fairly complex and curious passages with which to wrestle.  The first testament reading from Numbers may be totally unfamiliar.  If you suffer from Ophidiophobia (fear of snakes), you might find it especially disturbing!  Our Gospel reading, on the other hand, is likely to be familiar to all.  It contains perhaps the best known and often repeated line of Christian scripture that’s out there…“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” But just because it’s familiar, doesn’t mean it’s straightforward.  These two passages are challenging and not only are they tied to one another but they both hold, in tension, the dual reality of sin/judgment and God’s amazing grace.

Join us for online worship at 9:00 as we offer our praise and thanks to God, as we connect with God’s love, community and call and as we explore our faith together. We’ll be recognizing the one year anniversary of living with COVID and related restrictions, honoring the grief and loss of this past year but also leaning into hope, into light, into new life…the dawning of a new day.  We trust it’s coming!