September 14, 2014 Romans 14: 1-12 Rev. Catherine Purves I’m in the middle of reading a very unusual novel by Doris Lessing entitled Alfred and Emily. This is the story of her two parents, but it is told with an unexpected twist. As she explains in the forward to the book, both of her parents’ lives were devastated by World War I. Her father, Alfred, never recovered from the trenches. A piece of…
September 7, 2014 Exodus 12: 1-14 Rev. Catherine Purves Let’s imagine that you are being held captive, in fact, that you are enslaved. The situation in which you find yourself is quite intolerable. Your whole family, your extended family, and everyone you know is in the same predicament. As a result, everyone is suffering, some are dying, and all are in imminent danger. Escape is your only option. Time is of the essence. …
August 31, 2014 Exodus 3: 1-15 Rev. Catherine Purves Moses was out in the middle of nowhere. Our text says that he was beyond the wilderness. This was the very wilderness where the Hebrews would wander for 40 years after Moses led them out of slavery. He was near Mt. Horeb which is thought to be another name for Mt. Sinai. This was a place where there was no food and little water,…
August 24, 2014 Romans 12: 1-8 Matthew 16: 13-17 Rev. Catherine Purves If you nick your finger with a paring knife or fall down and scrape your knee, a simple bandage and some Neosporin will probably suffice. In a few days your injury will be almost completely healed. When you have children, you soon become an expert at these minor remedies, and you are no longer alarmed by the sight of blood or…
August 17, 2014 Genesis 44: 1-15 Romans 11: 1-2a, 29-36 Rev. Catherine Purves They say that hindsight is 20 x 20. At least we can probably all agree that hindsight is a lot more reliable than foresight. Who can predict what will happen tomorrow? Even trying to see why things are happening while they are happening can be a daunting task. This month marks the 100th anniversary of the start of World War…