Hunting Ridge Presbyterian Church

Luke 19:28-44

This week we have joined the world in watching a show of force and military might.  You might call it muscle flexing.  Kind of a “See what we can do!” exchange.  First you have the Syrian leader using chemical weapons on his own people (again!), and then you have the US leader sending a bomb shower on the military base which was identified as the source of the chemical weapons.  Now everyone is on pins and needles.  What is next?  Who will make the next move?  And what other nations will be jumping in on one side or the other?  Will 59 bombs bring an end to another country’s civil war?  Or will it take more?  If so, how many?  It is complicated.  And it is ultimately a contest of who can be the strongest, the mightiest, the best equipped militarily to crush the ones defined as enemy.

The events this week remind me of the military show of force which entered Jerusalem from the west on the same day Jesus and his friends entered the city from the east.  Continue reading “What Kind of a King is Jesus?” →

Luke 14:12-24    The faces around your table are an illustration of your community.  Think about your table when you have hosted a meal for more than just your nuclear family—maybe a holiday, maybe a birthday, maybe a meal “for no reason”, as my sister in law says when it is just time to get together.  Who is there?  How well do you know the dinner guests?  What is the atmosphere like?  What makes you the most anxious–Whether the roast is overdone or not?  Whether there will be enough food?  Or whether the conversation will turn to politics?  Or whether the guests will appreciate your clean house?  Or whether one person will get offended by someone else?  Do you pay attention to who sits next to who?  Who is at the head of the table?  And what is the role of the person sitting at the head of the table?

The faces around our table tell a lot about us.  Who is there and Continue reading “God-Sense: The Taste of Community” →