When God created light on the first day, He didn’t banish the darkness entirely. He established the regular cycle of night and day, darkness and light. This framework gave us time to work and play, as well as time to rest and sleep. But even in that time of darkness, God provided lights to shine in the darkness by creating the moon and stars on the fourth day.

I visited Tim in the Sturtevant Prison. One of our members had asked me to visit her grandson, Tim (not his real name), while he was there.

Tim told me that he had attended Epiphany many years ago, as a child. But he had long since fallen away from the church. He said that during his teenage years he became rebellious and defiant. He got involved in drugs and alcohol. Then, to pay for his addictions, he stole money. He admitted that he even stole from his grandmother.

Why did Jesus travel so far? Why did Jesus leave His mansion in heaven to journey to earth? Why did Jesus remain God but also trek to earth by taking on the baggage of human flesh and blood?

Those are the questions we tried to unravel recently in our 6th grade confirmation class.

To help us understand the relationship of God to humans, we discussed the relationship of humans to ants. Caleb volunteered to be our resident “ant-lover.”

America is filled with famous landmarks that celebrate important events or special places. The Statue of Liberty is an icon of freedom in the New York harbor. The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri, is an emblem of America’s expansion. The Golden Gate bridge and Hoover Dam are working monuments to mankind’s ingenuity. The Grand Canyon, Yellowstone National Park, and Mammoth Cave National Park are all recognizable places of American beauty.

You don’t usually travel to a cemetery to be inspired. However, if you go to the Salt Lake City Cemetery in Utah, you will find a unique and stirring tombstone. You cannot look at this particular tombstone and not have an emotional reaction. You are drawn to it. You want to know the story behind it. … Yet, at the same time, as soon as you see it, you know the story.

At the North Garden of the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, there is a bronze sculpture entitled, “Let Us Beat Our Swords into Ploughshares.” The sculpture depicts a man holding a hammer aloft in his right hand and a sword pointed toward the ground in his left hand. He is beating his sword into a plowshare. Instead of fighting, he will be farming. He is no longer going to war, and so he is turning his weapons of destruction into creative tools for the benefit of mankind. 

It is Noon on the Friday before the Passover Sabbath. Jerusalem is always bustling around the Passover. It has become even more tense and tumultuous since the Romans have taken over. But everybody’s nerves are even more taut this particular Friday. The Roman soldiers are on high alert. The Jewish religious leaders have a blood lust in their eyes. There is fear and confusion among most of the residents of Jerusalem. But there is also a mob mentality aching for violence among some of the others staying in Jerusalem for the Passover.

Recently, 3000 American Christians completed a survey about their Christian faith. There were 47 questions on the original survey. I put 5 of them in place of my sermon outline in the announcements. I confined these questions only to the Bible’s teaching of the Trinity. Circle A or D in front of the statement for Agree or Disagree.

“America’s Got Talent” is one of a dozen or more copy-cat “spin-offs” from the grand-daddy original “discover-unknown-talent” show “American Idol,” a franchise we copied from Great Britain’s “Pop Idol” franchise. This genre of television that includes “The Voice,” “X-Factor” and “America’s Got Talent” focus on finding that rare pearl of stardom embedded amidst the grit and gravel of everyday gifts.

Ferreting out someone’s ability to excel at something, identifying an individual’s unique “talent,” has its roots in this week’s Gospel lesson. In fact, you might call Jesus’ parable, the original “talent contest.”

A local fitness center was offering $1,000 to anyone who could show they were stronger than the owner of the gym. Here’s how it worked: The muscle-bound owner would squeeze a lemon into a glass until all the juice was gone. Then he would hand the lemon to the challenger. Anyone who could squeeze just one more drop of juice from the lemon would win the money.

Over time many people tried to best the owner—other weight lifters, construction workers, even professional wrestlers—but nobody could.