UBC Wed For Life

With Christmas upon us, we’ve all been inundated by images and concepts related to the holiday. Two figures, more than anything else, are given special attention for Christmas: Jesus Christ and Santa Claus. For believers, that statement may seem laughable. Christmas by definition is the commemoration of Jesus’ birthday, so how can anyone suggest that Santa is just as prominent during this season? Well, before you ask that question, think about the Christmas decorations you saw in the stores you’ve visited recently, the Christmas related commercials or shows you saw the last time you turned on your TV, or the Christmas themed clothing you’ve seen recently. How many times did you see Santa? How many times did you see Jesus or something related to Jesus? Chances are, you encountered much more Santa than Jesus.  That’s a sad reality There’s nothing wrong with indulging in some of the less spiritually based aspects of Christmas, but we do have to stay grounded in our beliefs about why t...

Tis the season to be thankful. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, for most, there is plenty of gift giving, meal sharing, and fellowshipping. Most people tend to be in good moods, or at least, better moods than they might have been before. It’s a season of giving, and in turn, that means it’s also a season of gratitude. After all, for every action of giving, there should be an equal action of gratitude. Well maybe the gratitude isn’t always equal to the giving, but, at the very least, almost everyone will do the bare minimum of saying “Thank You” when something is done for them. For Christians, we have even more reason to be thankful. We are coming up on the celebration of the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ. We should be thankful that God saw fit to save us. We should be thankful that Jesus was willing to lay down his life for us. In truth, we should be thankful that we get to be children of God. Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful dee...

Solomon’s sin doomed his son, Rehoboam, to a tumultuous reign as king. God is true to his word both when it comes to blessings and punishment. Following Rehoboam’s time as king, the seat of power for Israel was less a throne and more a revolving door. The books of Kings I and II are named as such because they describe the reigns of the various Hebrew kings including and following Solomon. When reading the books, it should be clear to the reader very quickly that long largely productive reigns like those seen with David and Solomon were not the norm. While God had a hand in selecting all the kings that rose to power, none of them had God’s favor going into their reigns the way David and Solomon did. Conversely, God still had his prophets or “Men of God” to deliver His Word and shape events as God desired. Elijah was one of the most prominent prophets in the Bible. When we first meet him, he is giving a prophecy to Ahab, the king of Israel at that time. Now Elijah the Tishbite, from...

As Christians, our ultimate goal with everything we do should be to please God. However, we do not always behave in a way that would allow us to accomplish that goal. One thing is clear, if we are sinning, we are not pleasing God because we are behaving in a way that is in direct conflict with God’s Will. Pastor Pope pointed out that Christians shouldn’t sin and, contrary to what many believe, don’t have to sin. He used words from Peter to illustrate the path that Christians should take to move away from sin. Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckles...

Election season is finally coming to an end. A decision has finally been made, and that decision will require a transition. One administration will have to step away, while another rises to take its place. The U.S. is more than two hundred years old, and presidential elections are held every 4 years. We’ve been here before. Sometimes the transition has led to revolutionary change for the country such as when Abraham Lincoln took office and wound up freeing the slaves and overseeing a Civil War. More often than not though, particularly in recent times, the transition from one leadership to another hasn’t really had as much of an impact as many have hoped.  Too often, when all the promises and bluster subside, most of the problems that were present before the transition remain after the transition. Too many citizens are struggling financially. Too many people are being abused by both the system and their fellow citizens. Too much strife exists in the nation, but it’s not jus...

It’s become common to hear stories of incidents occurring in today’s world that prompt questions like “How can this still be happening in this day and age?” Those questions are born from the belief that our nation, the world, and humanity in general should have progressed to the point where certain problems no longer exist. In the minds of some, racism, sexism, and all other types of bigotry should be things of the past. Yet, looking at recent events that have been unfolding in the U.S., we see that those things have not faded at all. In some ways, they may be just as prominent in society as they ever were. How can that be? Perhaps, it's a little naive to believe that time alone is enough to carry us away from the ills that infest society. Sure, there have been civil rights movements and women’s suffrage movements and other large scale efforts by groups to push society past the problems that plague it. However, maybe the problem is that these things are so ingrained in our s...

Choice is important for many people. The ability to choose makes many of us feel like we have some control. With the election on the horizon, this seems like the season of choice. For some, every election seems to take on massive importance as if we as a nation are literally choosing between good and evil. That may be extreme, but at the very least, most of us believe that one option is better than the other. It’s all a matter of perspective. One candidate may have the background, history, and experience that appeals to you, or maybe that candidate has an uncanny way of saying things that always seems to match what you believe. It can be easy to get caught up in the hype and come to think that anything other than the election of your candidate would be cataclysmic. If you’re a Christian, such thinking means that you’ve lost perspective. We all live in this world and are citizens of a nation. Performing civic duties are just as important for believers as non-believers. Christi...