by Daisy Reynolds | Dec 21, 2022
Barry reminds us that while we, as believers, are (hopefully) longing, praying, and yearning for what has not yet arrived in the world, God’s faithfulness has already been at work to bring about our redemption. This was true of his first advent as a babe and will be...
by Barry Creamer | Dec 21, 2022 | Devotionals
God told geriatric Abraham he would have a son, and he did. He revealed to Manoah’s wife their son would be holy, and he was. He promised melancholic Hanna she would birth a prophet, and she did. He swore to give Israel a king; they cared for their bitter relative and...
by Barry Creamer | Dec 14, 2022 | Devotionals
The temple provides setting for all 3 opening accounts in Luke’s gospel—John the Baptist’s birth, Jesus’ birth, and young Jesus’ return to Jerusalem without his parents. In the temple, Gabriel announces John’s coming birth to Zechariah, Zechariah and Elisabeth name...
by Daisy Reynolds | Dec 14, 2022
Barry continues the conversation about how to make sure our faith matures but doesn’t become stale. He reminds us that our ultimate goal is not to have a good relationship with faith, but with the God of our faith that is making us into his image through the help of...
by Barry Creamer | Dec 7, 2022 | Devotionals
Rocking, basking, relaxing on the front porch, she is clearly master of her 2-acre domain; at least, that’s what I extrapolate at 25 bumpy miles-per-hour on the pockmarked road passing along her fence, the path my sub-par GPS has mapped for me on the way to a church...
by Daisy Reynolds | Dec 7, 2022
Barry talks about the process of and barriers to the maturation of our faith. We want it to be fresh, but not always novel, stable, but certainly not stagnant. When thinking of our spiritual past, we don’t need the same things we needed then, but we do need some of...
by Barry Creamer | Nov 30, 2022 | Devotionals
The smell of musty paper, the look of newly white or agedly yellow leaves, the whispered sound of a turning page—none of those things affects me like so many (so, so many) of my friends. I don’t know why. I actually admire that sentiment in others; I just don’t have...
by Daisy Reynolds | Nov 30, 2022
The journey of faith in Psalm 41 begins with belonging, moves through knowledge of self and God, and ends in mercy. Our God walked this path first and now we have the chance to see people as more than what they can do for us. Scriptures: Psalm 41 Lev...
by Daisy Reynolds | Nov 23, 2022
Many of us have traditions we maintain over Thanksgiving such as thanking God for those around our table or thanking him for something good that has happened to us over the last year. However, Barry throws a wrench in the thankful works, when he suggests that to the...
by Barry Creamer | Nov 23, 2022 | Devotionals
One opposite to time’s moment is eternity-to-come: “then” replacing “now”; future’s fulness overcoming present’s poverty. Thoreau uses a stream to describe another opposition: a juxtaposition of what is constantly passing with what just as constantly remains. “Time is...
