Steve Biegel Galatians 4:21-5:1 Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise. These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is [...]

Peggy Roe Galatians 4:8-20 NRSV 8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods. 9 Now, however, that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits?[a] How can you want to be enslaved to them again? 10 You are observing special days, and months, and seasons, and years. 11 I am afraid that my work for you may have been wasted. 12 Friends,[b] I beg you, become as I am, for [...]

Mike Mosby Galatians 4:1-7 This is what I am saying: When young children inherit all that their father owned, they are still no different from his servants. It doesn’t matter that they own everything. 2 While they are children, they must obey those who are chosen to care for them. But when they reach the age the father set, they are free. 3 It is the same for us. We were once like children, servants to the useless rules of this world. 4 But when the right time came, God sent his Son, who was born from a woman [...]

Erin Campbell Naman Galatians 3:23-29   “Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed.  Therefore, the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith.  But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and [...]

Making Room Again Shelby Olive Galatians 2:15-21 15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not gentile sinners, 16 yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through the faith of Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law. 17 But if, in our effort to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found to [...]

Jenna Lindley Galatians 1:11-24;  NRSV 11 For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; 12 for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. 14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more [...]

Edith Nordloh Galatians 1:1-5 (NRSV) 1 Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—2 and all the brothers and sisters with me, to the churches in Galatia: 3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. Reflection: Do you know who you are? Do you [...]

Rev. Michelle Manuel and Shelby Olive Friends, this summer we are traveling with Paul. Many of us have some vacations or downtime planned and we thought that it’s only right that we bring Paul along. Paul, the author of much of the New Testament, traveled quite a bit. He seemed to be constantly on the move (except when he was in prison, and even then his pen was ‘on the move’ writing many of his letters).  A big part of my job is to study the Bible and subsequently I have studied a lot of Paul. For anyone who’s [...]

Rev. Michelle Manuel and Shelby Olive Friends, this summer we are traveling with Paul. Many of us have some vacations or downtime planned and we thought that it’s only right that we bring Paul along. Paul, the author of much of the New Testament, traveled quite a bit. He seemed to be constantly on the move (except when he was in prison, and even then his pen was ‘on the move’ writing many of his letters).  A big part of my job is to study the Bible and subsequently I have studied a lot of Paul. For anyone who’s [...]

Rev. Colin Bagby Leviticus 23:9-14 9 The Lord spoke to Moses: 10 Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you and you reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 He shall raise the sheaf before the Lord, that you may find acceptance; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall raise it. 12 On the day when you raise the sheaf, you shall offer a lamb a year old, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the Lord. 13 And the grain offering with it shall be [...]