St. Luke's Blogs

On the last Sunday of 2023, I had the opportunity to worship in the Lifelight Contemporary Service.  There were several upbeat praise songs including a personal favorite:  The Goodness of God.  As I sang along, I noticed a dad and his young daughter join us on the back row.  At one point during the song, the dad turned to his daughter and began to teach her, by example, how to clap to the rhythm of the praise songs.  I was awed by this dad’s willingness to teach his daughter part of worship.

That afternoon, as I looked ahead to our 2024 theme: “A Year in the Bible,” I wondered who taught me how to love and appreciate reading the Bible?  Just as that dad taught his daughter how to clap in rhythm to a praise song, I imagine most of us had people who taught us how to read the Bible.  Who taught you?

My earliest memory is of my maternal grandmother…

In the summer of 2019, my family visited the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.  This historic church was the first black church organized in Birmingham in 1873. In the early 1960’s the church was a place where many civil rights meetings took place. It became the headquarters for organizing the work of much of the Civil Rights movement in Birmingham and Alabama. Great leaders, such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. often spoke from the pulpit. From this Church, the United States would experience significant change.

Sadly, it was a racist, violent act that put the name of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in every home in the United States. On Sunday, September 5, 1963, a bomb exploded outside of this church. This act of terror killed four young girls and wounded 22 other people during the Sunday school hour…

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves.” So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
    I will tell of all thy wonderful deeds.
I will be glad and exult in thee,
    I will sing praise to thy name, O Most High.

One of the most significant moments of my faith journey took place when I was 16 years old. I took part in a 3-day retreat called Chrysalis. It was a wonderful experience. The event was filled with challenging discussions about faith, beautiful worship, and lots and lots of food. This event provided me an opportunity to encounter God and strengthen my faith in a powerful way.

The Chrysalis retreat was a well-planned event. The teachings were informative. The leaders challenged us in our discussions about the faith. The work that was put into the planning and execution of the event was obvious. However, there was one thing that helped to make this a significant moment for me. I lost my voice the day before the event began. I had come down with a serious case of laryngitis. It would be several days until I got my voice back. Because I could not speak, I spent the weekend listening. Even when I wanted to share my thoughts and opinions, I could not. I had no voice.

“Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” – Galatians 6:10

Georgia Girelli was having a bad day. She was out with a few friends when she realized that she had lost her purse. What a terrible feeling that must have been. Our wallets and purses contain so many necessary items. It is overwhelming to think that you might have to cancel credit cards, call your bank, get a new driver’s license, locate new insurance cards, and so much more. That is what Georgia was facing and she was none too excited about what the future held for her.

Thankfully, Georgia’s doorbell rang…

When I was a child, my family often took trips to see my relatives in Arkansas. Most of my dad‘s relatives lived around Batesville, Arkansas. We would load into the car, early in the morning, and start the long drive. The highways in Arkansas are much improved these days. 40 years ago, we would drive winding, two lane roads up through the Ozarks, to arrive at our destination. I spent most of the trips fighting terrible car sickness and the roads twisted and turned.

My dad knew the way, but we always had a map in the car. I remember my dad asking me to use the map and tell him how far we were from the next town, or when the next turn would be. It was on these trips that I learned to read a map and follow directions. This was long before GPS in our car or on our phones (we didn’t even have cell phones). Reading a map was an important skill that allowed us to safely arrive at our destinations…

I grew up in the church and some of my earliest memories were of going to Sunday School at a Baptist church in Bartlesville.  I continued to attend Sunday School throughout my teenage and early adult years at both Baptist and Methodist churches.  In Sunday School, I was first introduced to many of the remarkable stories and characters of the Bible. There was David and Goliath, Adam and Eve, Samson and his hair, Moses parting the Red Sea and, of course, the Christmas and Easter stories.  But I never really read the Bible until I joined a Disciple Bible Study class at Boston Avenue United Methodist Church in Tulsa when I was in my mid-thirties.

At that time in my life, I was looking for direction and hoping God would speak to me in the pages of this book that I had never really read…

Our faith story is told through the lives of many unique people. Some were farmers, some shepherds, and some were fishermen. Most of them were ordinary people, with common struggles that are reflected in the Biblical stories. What makes most of these ordinary people ‘extraordinary’ is their faith in God.  They trusted God when they heard God’s call in their lives. One of the most significant examples of faith in the Bible is Abram, who becomes known as Abraham.

Abram and his family lived first in Ur and then moved to Haran, which is in modern-day Turkey.  God spoke to Abram and called him to go to a new home where Abram and his wife, Sarai, would give birth to a “great nation.” It was an amazing calling and promise given to Abram and Sarai. When they departed Haran, Abram was 75 years old.

Few people are looking to start over and move to a new place at age 75…

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.

These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created. In the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up–for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground–then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.