Hopewit

Now available on KINDLE, coming soon in paperback and hard cover “ Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.” (John 5:24-27, NIV) Reading passages like this in John as if they were literal descriptions of the end of time was a greater preoccupation years ago than it is now. Mennonite “evangelists” here in the Saskatchewan Valley would hold forth in evening meetings on the nature of the end of the world, mostly through the window of premillenialism, if memory serves. Loosely summarized, it’s the belief that the thousand years of peace on earth follows Christ’s ...

Music in the Air . . .  “ When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed.     “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?”     And they took offense at him.     But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honour except in his own town and in his own home.” (Matthew 13:53-57, NIV) An interesting anecdote, this, particularly in that people first marvel at Jesus’ wisdom and powers and then take offense at it, supposedly because he’s just a . . . what, local show-off? Presumably the offense lies in his being an upstart, a “who does this guy think he is?” problem. How they are able to dismiss l...

“ I will bring such distress on all people that they will grope about like those who are blind because they have sinned against the Lord . Their blood will be poured out like dust and their entrails like dung. Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord ’s wrath.” (Zephaniah 1: 17 & 18) When did you last hear a sermon based on the prophecy of minor prophet, Zephaniah? Was it as recently as never? The book has only three chapters; I reread it just now in about ten minutes. I also read online that it’s contemporaneous with Isaiah and was likely written down just before the exile, in 670 – 690 BC.        To spare you reading it, I’ll summarize: The Day of the LORD is coming, and on that day, the Baal worshiping neighbours of Judah will be utterly destroyed as God’s wrath is poured down upon them as it was at the great deluge. Likewise, the people of Judah (the Jews) will see the sinful among them purged and a humbl...

Truncated Church on a Hardwood Floor We can debate , of course, whether a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable, but deciding on one or the other changes neither the flavour nor the nutritional value of the . . . well, fruit (or vegetable). Truth is, we use the word fruit to mean both the edible seed covering of a tree or plant and, more generally, the product of an entity or action, as in “a fruitful conversation.” It’s the latter meaning that Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount are referencing, and taken as a life-principal, judging by fruit rather than by appearance or declaration should be routine for us who call ourselves followers of Christ. It could do away with racism, ageism, gender-isms and all those many “isms” that unjustly make of life a misery for so many people. “ Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, ...