January 31, 2010
Fourth Sunday of Epiphany
Jeremiah 1:4-10, Psalm 71:1-6, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, Luke 4:21-30
Nancy S. Streufert
“All You Need is Love”
‘May our hearts be opened, Lord, to receive Your Word.’
I have a confession to make. Though I was baptized as an infant, raised in the church, and have considered myself a Christian all my life, I had never actually read the Bible all the way through until about five years ago! Several times over the years, with good intentions, I would start at the beginning of Genesis and by the time I got through the stories of Jacob and Joseph my resolve would fizzle. It was the systematic program called Education for Ministry that finally gave me the discipline to read and study the Bible. As I learned more about the great biblical figures one after the other, I made a startling discovery: very few of them were perfect human beings! In fact, some of them committed some pretty shocking deeds and almost all had some kind of character flaw. A prime example is Jacob, who tricked his father Isaac into granting him the birthright that belonged to his older brother Esau. And Rebecca, Jacob’s mother, helped him do it! These were the paragons of virtue that throughout history parents have named their children after! Abraham, Sarah, David, Noah, Judith, Joshua, Peter, Paul. Read the rest of this entry »
