Engaging with God

Dear PBPC Friends, Blessings to you as we continue through this season of Lent.  Please  CLICK HERE  for  Week 3  of our PBPC Lenten Devotional, in case you want to print out the daily readings for the coming week. I will also email the readings to you each day. In Christ, Pastor Chris

Our scripture passage today drops us right into the middle of a conversation between Jesus and some Judeans who are quite defensive about their lineage.

These two words, I am, are perhaps the most profound of anything that Jesus says anywhere in the gospels.

" I am ," is not simply the claim to be greater than Abraham or to have pre-existence. Above and beyond these things, Jesus here is explicitly identifying himself with God.

We must seriously consider that what he says about himself is true – that he is the Son of God, that he was with God in the beginning, that he is God in human flesh. Jesus is the One through whom God is saving the world, the One through whom God is reconciling the world to Himself.

Hear Jesus speaking these words to you today: before you were born, I AM; in the midst of your greatest challenges, I AM; when you are most worried and anxious, I AM; when you are unable to save yourself, I AM; when you are at death's door, I AM; and after your days on this earth have ended, I AM.

Dear PBPC Friends, I hope that you are experiencing a blessed beginning to the Lenten season.  Please CLICK HERE for Week 2 of our PBPC Lenten Devotional, in case you want to print out the daily readings for the coming week. I will also continue to email them to you each day throughout Lent. Blessings, Pastor Chris

Dear Friends, Lent begins tomorrow as we observe Ash Wednesday. The season of Lent is the 40 days leading up to Easter, a time for believers to reflect, to repent of our sins, and draw closer to Jesus as we move towards the celebration of the Resurrection. We have prepared a Lenten Devotional with reflections on Scripture for you to use in your daily prayer times.  You will receive them by email at the beginning of each week in case you want to print them out, and you will also receive them daily throughout Lent. I hope these readings are a blessing for you. You can get the first week of devotions by clicking here: Lenten Devotional 2021, Week 1 Blessings, Pastor Chris

During my years as a youth pastor , I became quite good at planning simple meals for large groups of people.

never doubt that Jesus is compassionate and that he cares about us and is concerned about the details of our lives.

one thing that John makes clear – as compared to the other gospel versions of this story – is that Jesus knows exactly what he is doing . 

God wants to include us in what He is doing in the world. Each one of us, just like that young boy, is invited to look around us and see what the needs are. God can do amazing things with the humble gifts that we feel we have to offer.

Following up on this story, Jesus will say " I am the Bread of Life ." Whoever eats of this bread will not go hungry; in the same way that he offers us Living Water, and promises that whoever drinks of it will not thirst.

Jesus invites us to participate in his compassion, offering up our humble gifts for his work .

We have certain ideas about what we want and need in life, certain things that we tell ourselves and others that we would do if we had the opportunity.

This must be a rhetorical question, right? Well, not necessarily. There is usually more going on in Jesus' interactions with people than might be immediately obvious. This is implied by the man's response, " I have no one to put me in the pool… when I try, someone else gets in ahead of me…"

Jesus asks blind Bartimaeus, "What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asks the first disciples, "What are you looking for?" On one level, we see that Jesus has great respect for the dignity and free will of the people he interacts with; he does not impose his healing upon them against their will

The life of healing and wholeness is the life following Jesus. The paradox is that Jesus describes this life as "denying ourself, taking up our cross, and following him." This doesn't sound easy because it usually isn't. But Jesus is clear : what we are releasing is that which doesn't lead to life, and exchanging it for that which does.

The man at the pool of Bethesda, after he had made his excuse, nevertheless responded to Jesus by standing up and walking. He lost some things, such as his security; but the adventure of his new wholeness was before him, and the cost was far outweighed by the blessing of the abundant life that Jesus offered him.

We see in our story today that God crosses over the barriers that divide us – with an amazing invitation.

The fact that this woman was coming to the well alone at noon is an indication that her company has been shunned even by her own people

Unlike the water of Jacob's well, which represents the pride we may cling to in our ethnic or national heritage, the life that Jesus offers is alive and real and constantly being renewed. 

God is calling people to worship (that is, offer themselves) in spirit (with their whole hearts, not merely in form or ritual) and truth ( honestly and authentically ).

we're not convinced that God could ever truly forgive us... in Jesus, we hear the invitation to come to God just as we are, without pretense, and to worship God in spirit and in truth .