Welcome!
I welcome your comments regarding our shared ministry at St. Paul.
If you would rather comment privately please, email me at Prshepherd@westriv.com
"Two are better than one," says Ecclesiastes,
"because if one falls down, his friend can help him up."
I deeply desire to bring Christian comfort and the power of prayer to those who are challenged with sickness or circumstances in life. However, in this time of restricted visitation call me and I will attempt to contact them.
Please, assume that if you don’t tell us, we do not know.
Call me at 301-4956 if surgery or hospital stay is imminent or if a visit could be helpful.
Pastor Dennis
from my perspective…
Breaking News, or Headline News, is updated by the hour and minute. The programs are designed to get our attention and to sell advertising. (Big surprise!) On the other hand, the Good News of Jesus Christ was proclaimed and is proclaimed today for an entirely different purpose.
Mark begins his gospel with “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” (Mk 1:1, ESV) It sounds like Mark is reporting, “Breaking news! Pay attention! Something important has happened!”
Matthew begins his gospel, “The book of genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David.” (Mt. 1:1) It sounds like Matthew is introducing a history lesson whereby we might learn something. Don’t get me wrong – I love history because I believe with George Santayana, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
John begins his gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.” (Jn. 1:1) This is something totally different. John invites us to lay aside our daily concerns and ponder life’s Big Questions concerning God and “The Word of God.”
Each year, we might take a measure of our life on Tax Day, an anniversary, or any number of other milestones. Regardless of the circumstances, we go through a process of reflection, evaluation, and decision-making. We might reflect on the Big Questions of Life, like “Who are we? And “How do I fit in with family and society?” or “What positive difference am I making?”
I will grant that the most common daily question is, “Am I happy.” But I believe the Bible teaches us that happiness results from how we think of ourselves and our relationship with others. Therefore, John invites us to ponder anew our relationship with the One God of the Holy Scriptures, as opposed to mental or emotional gods of pleasure, wealth or self-importance.
In the church year, Lent is the season that encourages us to ponder our relationship with the one and only eternal God and one another or who we desire to become.
Join us as we explore Jesus’ great encounters with religious rulers, a disrespected woman from a disrespected people and His disciples. In John, Jesus, the Word of God, invites people to question who we are in God’s eyes and who He desires us to become to live a fulfilling life. (e.g. John 10:10)
As John informs us, Jesus, the true Word of God, comes into the world to save us from ourselves and the destructive temptations brought on by the evil lies of the great Satan. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:17, ESV)
Please join us in our encounter with the Living Word of God, your pastor, Dennis.
The Samaritans
by Pastor Dennis on 03/21/14
The tribes of Israel
divided over a dispute concerning true worship and the kingship of Solomon, son
of David. Recorded in 1 & 2 Kings, the tribes of the Ephraim and Manasseh (sometimes
called Israel) became the Northern kingdom. The Old Testament Prophets refer to
the Northern Kingdom as Israel / Ephraim; the New Testament refers to them as
Samaritans which in Hebrew is “keepers of the Torah”. The Southern Kingdom (Judah, Benjamin and Simeon) became
the southern kingdom called Judah which in Hebrew means “those who praise”. The
English New Testament refers to Judeans as “Jews”.
Most of our
information about the Samaritans comes from Jewish writers who considered them
to be heretics; asserting the Assyrian religions polluted the true faith. Samaritans
claim the Judean’s faith was polluted by captivity in Babylon.
The Samaritans hold
that Mount Gerizim near Shechem was the primary place of worship and see the
first books of the Bible as God’s Word. The Judeans assert Jerusalem in the one
holy place of worship and accept books of Torah,
History, Poetry and the Prophets as the Word of God.
In Jesus time the
Samaritans may have been a very conservative group; evidenced by ‘the Woman at the
Well’ coming in the heat of the day being separated from the women who came
early in the morning. Modern writers have tried to assert the woman may have
been a ‘good woman’ and not shamed by her many marriages but in fact the grace
of God in Christ is more profound if we recognize her as a sinner in the eyes
of her community much like the tax collectors and harlots that Jesus spends
time with and redeems.
It is estimated that
there were over 1 million Samaritans in Jesus’ time. They rebelled against the Byzantines
between 495- 529 AD and were decimated. Being outlawed, persecuted and the mass
conversion to Islam further reduced their population until today there are
around 800 practicing Samaritans in Israel.
The primary issue in
John’s Gospel is to reveal Jesus as the Christ (the anointed Son of God), Hosanna
(the Savior of God) who was sent into the world to save the world (John 3:16;
20:30-31) and Jesus as the Word and Light of the world that was rejected by the
world, for the world loved the darkness.” (John 1:4-5; 3:19)
