Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the Lord repay you for what you have
As we journey together through the book of Ruth, we’re considering how the Gospel is made known through this woman’s story. Ruth is a book about God’s hesed love – his unstoppable, never-changing, always & forver love. Yet, this love is displayed in the context of pain and suffering. This is seen in the three main
In our recent series in Ruth, we’ve discovered that God’s hesed love promises that suffering will not only be “made up for” but will be more beautiful for having once been lost. This concept is picked up in the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery: “But we have this treasure
Over the past few months, we’ve been talking a lot about extending hospitality and getting to know our colleagues and neighbors. In a couple of weeks we’ll have a great opportunity to do just that – on Halloween. Think about it – it’s the only night of the year where
Our church blog is expanding! Until now, the blog primarily hosted updates about our pastoral search process and about the transition of the Warrenburg family from Chessington to NSCBC. We also read Lent devotionals through the blog. But now we invite you to check in regularly for a variety of
Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:19 Working on a very secular university campus brought many challenges to my Christian faith. Speaking Biblical truths without flinching shocked acquaintances over lunch. Believing in the Resurrection was one of those Truths. In academia, believing in Jesus rising from the dead is really not considered to
Reading: Luke 23:26-49 Jesus is exhausted. He has been beaten, abandoned, and is carrying the instrument of his torture and death along the Via Dolorosa. What was normally a great spectacle is striking horror into the hearts of some women, who are weeping as they watch. But rather than fixing
Reading: Mark 15:16-20 The Roman soldiers’ mocking of Jesus epitomizes what the Apostle Paul calls, in 1 Corinthians 2:14, the “folly” of the “natural person.” The natural person, Paul observes, cannot understand the things of God because s/he lacks the discernment that only the Holy Spirit can give. The soldiers
