Echoes of Grace

  In our family, uniqueness is not just celebrated; it's adored. Take, for example, our precious kitty, Ming. She's not your average feline—Ming was born with thumbs. Yes, you read that correctly. As a polydactyl cat, she has extra digits, making her little paws look like they're donning tiny mittens. At first, Ming's additional thumbs seemed like a cute anomaly, but they did pose some challenges. As she grew, we noticed that her extra digits sometimes got in the way, causing her to wobble and stumble. There was a fleeting worry that perhaps a vet might suggest removing them for her ease. However, Ming, resilient and adaptive, soon mastered the art of walking, and what was once a hindrance became her unique strength. Watching her use those little thumbs with such dexterity was a heartwarming affirmation of nature's quirks. This experience with Ming prompted a deeper reflection on how we perceive and address physical differences. Consider children born with cleft pal...

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet.” Shakespeare's Juliet famously pondered the intrinsic value of names, suggesting that the essence of an object—or person—remains unchanged regardless of its designation. However, for many, including myself, a name is not just a term but a profound reflection of identity, heritage, and, crucially, the self we choose to present to the world. This profound soliloquy invites us to ponder the significance of names. Have you ever considered the story behind your name or imagined how different your life might be if you had another? In the tapestry of human culture, names are imbued with significances that extend far beyond their phonetic expressions. While most people in modern Western culture receive their names at birth, chosen by parents who haven't yet met them, naming conventions vary widely across cultures and history. For instance, many Native American tribes have tra...

Let's examine the context and content of Matthew 18 to understand how it is commonly interpreted and whether it supports the idea of excluding or "shunning" individuals from the church community. Matthew 18 Overview: The Parable of the Lost Sheep (Matthew 18:10-14): This parable emphasizes God's concern for each individual, illustrating that He goes out of His way to find and bring back even one lost sheep. This suggests a theology of inclusion and relentless pursuit of every believer, highlighting God's desire that no one should be lost. Dealing with Sin in the Church (Matthew 18:15-17): Private Reconciliation (v. 15): If a member sins, the first step is to address the issue privately, aiming for reconciliation. Involving Witnesses (v. 16): If the private approach fails, involve one or two others to establish every matter by the testimony of two or three witnesses. Church Involvement (v. 17): If t...

  Themes of the Bible: Heaven (Revelation 21-22) Alright, so this is both the end of this sermons series that we’ve been in together for the last nine months, and it’s also the final pages of Scripture that we’ll be in today. For this study, we've been looking at key portions of Scripture that God has preserved for us in his Word. He's protected His word for us to study and learn from today, and in preparation for this final portion of Scripture, we’re going to start by talking about the afterlife. And we have a big problem right off the bat. We have a lot of problems as human beings, but this is a big one; the concept of heaven involves eternity and we do not have eternally equipped minds. If you remember the very beginning of this series, back in May or June, we started the very beginning in Genesis by establishing that when God creates the universe he establishes these natural laws that we're bound by and one of those natural laws is time. Everything ...

  Themes of the Bible: Faith (Hebrews 11) Today, we’re in Hebrews chapter 11. Now, to begin, this is going to come as a surprise to many of you who understand me to be quite the intellect. . . but until I was in college, I was really not into reading very much. In fact, I was pretty successful at writing book reports on the same book, year after year. I read A Canticle for Leibowitz in the 9th grade, and used it for book reports up to and including my senior year of high school. Couldn’t do that in college. . . Anyway, so you ask, ‘how in the world did you get through book reports for the other books you had to read?’ It's a good question. I had a habit of what's called “book-ending,’ where you read the first couple pages, maybe the first chapter and then you skip ahead and read the last little section of the text and you skim the section in between. Now that isn't usually enough to write a book report. So, I had a little friend called Cliff Notes, now ...