Salvogesis

Psalm 25 is an acrostic poem which means that every line begins with a different letter in the Hebrew Alphabet. If it was our alphabet, it would run A through Z in sequence. It is a poem written during some very difficult times. We, now, are in some very difficult times: Flooding around the province, fires in the summer, the plague that still ravages the world and seems to mutate almost at will (if that were possible); our economy is in shambles and we are making it worse; our country is more and more involved in many -at best- questionable aggressive international actions; our country is divided over things like vaccine passports and vaccine mandates. People are scared. People are mean. People are uncertain. All of this is coming across on social media and in person. I have heard multiple stories of people ‘losing it’ and I think we have each probably encountered someone ‘losing it’, getting noticeably upset in public when they never would have before. That person ‘losing it’ in some ...

The other week the kids and I were able to join Susan and her parents in the BC Legislature as they honoured her father for all the work he did for the people of BC. It was nice to have everyone’s names mentioned too.   We then got to stay for question period and that was ‘a whole nother matter’. It started off innocuous enough. It actually reminded me of when I was in Grade 6. We each took turns public speaking. Someone would have a timer. You had to be as close to 2 minutes as possible and not go over. The MLAs were doing this very well. I am sure they must have all passed Grade 6 with flying colours... And then it got interesting.  The clock was set for half-an-hour or so but unlike the 2-minute speeches, this time limit meant… absolutely nothing. The time was done and the politicians were not done; so they kept talking. The opposition, all except one lowly Green Party member who obviously didn’t get the memo, were all asking the same question over and over again about...

 The Exodus passage that we read from today references the Passover. The Passover was deliverance that God brought to His people through some terrible times. We have been struggling through the plague of Covid-19 since about March of 2020. The Passover occurred after the people had suffered through, not one plague (like we are struggling to do now) but 9 plagues. Can you imagine? Can you imagine if when we get through our current plague there are 8 more of these things waiting to greet us? …Each arguably worse than its predecessor? The Israelites suffered not one plague of Covid-19 but 9 plagues of various kinds:  1. The Nile River turns to blood (7:14–25) 2. Plague of frogs (7:25–8:11) 3. Plague of gnats (8:12–15) 4. Plague of flies (8:20–32) 5. Plague on the livestalk (9:1–7) 6. Plague of boils (9:8–12) 7. Plague of hail (9:13-35) 8. Plague of locusts (10:1–20) 9. Plague of darkness (10:21–29)  It was after the Ninth plague, when I am sure that everyon...

Today is October 31 st  so I thought that it would be good to start off with an October 31 st  quiz today:   1)       What historic event happened in Wittenburg on this date in 1517? (answer: Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church.) 2)       True or False: Ghosts are mentioned in the Bible. (True, especially The Holy Ghost in the Authorized Version) 3)       True or False: A king of Israel went to a witch to speak with the spirit of a dead person (True, 1 Samuel 28). a.        Bonus Marks name the King (Saul), the dead person (Samuel), and the witch (the Witch of Endor) 4)       How many people can you name who the Bible records God used to raise others from the dead? a.        God used Elijah to raise the son of the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:17-23), b.       God used El...

Oct. 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the church door. Jan. 3, 1521, Luther was excommunicated after he had a number of Papal bulls burned and was investigated by the Inquisition; 1521 saw the Diet of Worms and Luther’s kidnapping by Fredrick and by 1524 the religious wars were well underway in Europe. Though not a soldier, Luther was very active in inciting military engagements. Luther rejected the authority of the Pope, agreed to the principles of Sola Scriptura and justification by faith; rejected the seven sacraments, church tradition, the prohibition to marry for clergy; and he emphasized the power of the Word of God. Erasmus: His Textus Receptus (1516) was a very important translation of the NT. He was one of the first reformers. Luther was quite upset with Erasmus as Erasmus spoke about good works being shown by those who are saved. Luther really tried to divide faith and deeds – thus he did not like the Book of James very much at all. Erasmus really tried t...

1 When the Lord restored the people, we were like those who dream. 2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” 3 The Lord has done great things for us, and we rejoiced. 4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like the watercourses in the Negeb. 5 May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy. 6 Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.   Imagine this with me. You get up and get ready for your day. You head out to pick up some groceries before doing whatever else you have planned for the day. You don’t have a mask. You don’t go back to your car to get a mask; you don’t have one there either. You don’t go all the way back home; you have no idea where one might be there even though not long ago you had 2 or 3 readily accessible everywhere. You don’t have a mask. You don’t know where you might find one. Bu...

This is a very interesting passage. You need to picture this. Jesus has been teaching. His disciples are with him. They are helping. They are assisting. They are doing what needs to be done. They all serve Jesus but there isn’t really a hierarchy among the 12 of them; though some do have specific responsibilities: Home League, YPS, CSM, CFS, … okay maybe not these roles but they are a team working with Jesus as he is preaching, serving, and teaching. Jesus is a popular speaker, and he is on a speaking tour travelling from the north to the south, with his final show to be in Jerusalem in Judea. Jesus is not only teaching the large crowd of disciples, students, adherents, and interested public who come to hear him speak on his cross-Palestine tour, he is also teaching his 12 especially selected disciples, the ones with whom he will leave his ministry when he retires, is promoted, gets his raise (from the dead) and goes to be with the Father. In the early part of Chapter 10 leading up t...