Jo Perry-sumwalt

Bethany Peerbolte will look at the Jacob story and the striving we're all doing these days to lay aside our ingrained bias, and to move toward a better society. "Surely God was in this place, and I did not know it," Jacob says, and, in the same way, God is present in our struggling, adding a layer of hope.

The happy surprises of faith — a word we need in the midst of the despair and suspicions of others which have characterized 2020.

Genesis 28:10-19a
The First Lesson is the product of one of the four distinct oral traditions which gave rise to the first five books of the Bible. This account of Jacob’s dream of the ladder is likely the work of the 8th-century BC source designated as E, for its use of the Hebrew term Elohim to designate God. 

Genesis 28:10-19a
Joy in Minutiae
I love questions like, “ How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” I realize that speculative exegesis, like angelology, is not everybody’s cup of tea. It is so easy to dismiss these kinds of question as idle speculation that edifies nobody. But, for me, it is exactly these “idle questions about stuff that doesn’t matter” that have revealed some of the most earth-shaking and paradigm-shifting theological insights.

Contents
"The Invaders" by Keith Hewitt
"Surely The Lord Was In This Place" by Peter Andrew Smith

The Invaders
by Keith Hewitt
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

The suns were still high in the sky when Jessica Pike landed on the roof of the Colonial Administration Building, cut the engines, and waited for the rotors to stop. The parking attendant rolled up to her window and tapped on it, asked solicitously, “How can I help you this afternoon?”

Nobody liked Jennifer. She'd come from another country to join the class and it was difficult to understand what she said. And she had such odd ideas. Rosie discovered that instead of eating cereals from her bowl at breakfast time, Jennifer drank hot chocolate from her bowl - having first dipped her toast in it!

Matthew 13 contains the parabolic ministry of Jesus as Matthew tells the story. The first three of these parables are seed parables. Last week's text was the Parable of the Sower who went out to sow the seed (Matthew 13:1-9 [10-23]). This week's appointed text is the parable of the one who sowed good seed in his field along with Jesus' explanation of the parable of the weeds (vv. 36-43). A few of the omitted verses (vv. 31-33) are appointed for next week.