Following God is a difficult thing. God requires things of us. The ancient Israelites of today’s lesson are an illustration. Much of the history of Israel, at least that part that’s shown to us in the Old Testament, is a constant saga of the people falling away from following the Lord. Israel had a series…

For the past four Sundays, we have listened to Jesus speak about himself as “the bread of life.” Today we hear the results of his teaching. Some of those listening to him there in the Capernaum synagogue begin to grumble. “This is more than we can stomach!” they say. “Why listen to such talk?” Many…

Comedienne Lily expressed the difficulty many of us have in trusting in our leaders when she said, “Ninety-nine percent of the adults in this country are decent, hardworking, honest Americans. And it’s the other lousy one percent that gets all the publicity. But then, hey–we elected them.”(1) Or how about the message I saw written…