Aaron Simms's Blog, page 23
November 29, 2015
The Walking Dead – Initial Thoughts
My wife and I started watching “The Walking Dead” a few weeks ago and are now finally caught up to the current season. We started watching it because it is filmed in Georgia, and features Atlanta, Senoia, and surrounding areas.
This is a show on AMC which follows Rick Grimes and his group as they seek to survive following an outbreak which causes the dead to come back to life as zombies. Within the show, people variously call the zombies various terms: “walkers” because the just roam around,...
September 12, 2015
Too Familiar
In chapter 6 of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus goes to his hometown and teaches in the synagogue on the Sabbath. The text doesn’t say exactly what he taught, but one can imagine that it’s similar to what he had taught previously: that the Scriptures are fulfilled in him, that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, because he is here and ushering in the very reign of God in this fallen world.
You’d think this would be a great thing. Christ is here! God’s reign has come in him. God Himself has condescended to...
September 8, 2015
A Repentant Church
As a pastor, sometimes events overtake your prepared sermon, as happened to me at the end of June when the US Supreme Court released its ruling that basically recognizes the right of same-sex couples to marry in every state of this Union. This happened on a Friday, so I took the opportunity on the Sunday to talk about this issue openly and honestly.
What follows is a basically that talk, using the Word of God as our guide for it. A pastor is called to tell the truth, and I strive do so every...
July 7, 2015
“What is man that you are mindful of him…?”
My family and I recently went to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. I had never been, so it was an exciting experience for me. Years ago, I had visited the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, but I had always wanted to visit Kennedy.
The exhibits were amazing. They have an indoor “Early Space Exploration” exhibit where they have artifacts and information about the US-Soviet “space race.” Outside, they have the “Rocket Garden,” which is a collection of US rockets and space capsules display...
June 3, 2015
Blame and Doubt and Freedom
We as fallen people tend to be good at blaming others. If you work in an office, you’ve probably seen that people are very good at digging up old emails whenever something goes wrong in order to cast blame on another person. You see this with little kids too when something is broken in the house: it’s their brother or sister’s fault, or the dog did it. It’s never their own fault. If you’ve ever watched the TV show “Cops,” you’ve seen this as well, as the police pull over someone driving a sto...
June 1, 2015
Festival of the Holy Trinity
On Sunday, June 1st the Church on earth celebrated the Festival of the Holy Trinity, also known as Trinity Sunday. The Lutheran lectionary for this year’s festival used texts from Psalm 29, Isaiah 6:1-8, Acts 2:14a, 22-36, and John 3:1-17.
The reading from Isaiah is actually one of my favorite texts in the Bible. Do you know that the Apostle John also referred to Isaiah’s writings? In chapter 12 of his Gospel, John says that although Jesus did many great signs before the people, “… they still...
May 31, 2015
Pentecost Sunday
May 24th this year was Pentecost Sunday, the Fiftieth Day after Easter and the tenth day after Jesus’ ascension into heaven. And the Lutheran lectionary readings (Ezekiel 37:1-14, Acts 2:1-21, John 15:26-27;16:4-15) for this year’s Pentecost all talk about the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity. We worship one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Pentecost Sunday, in particular, is associated with the Holy Spirit, because of what happened on the first Pentecost a...
March 5, 2015
The Apostles’ Creed
In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, in particular 1 Corinthians 15:1-28, he reminds them that he delivered to them as of first importance what he also received. He tells them “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,” and that he appeared to many, including Paul (1 Cor. 15:3ff).. Paul’s message of first importance is that Christ died and rose in accordance with the Scriptures. T...
March 2, 2015
A Resume for God
Everyone is fairlyfamiliar with the concept of a resume. In Europe and other places, it’s also frequently called a “curriculum vitae,” which is Latin for basically “the course of my life.” So, a resume details the course of your life: where you went to school, what you studied, where you’ve worked, what skills you have. The idea is that prospective employers can look at your resume – the course of your life – to see if you are the right fit for a particular job and merit the position. The res...
February 25, 2015
“God will provide for Himself the lamb for the sacrifice”
In Genesis 22:1-18, Abraham is tested by God. In Mark 1:9-15, Jesus is tempted by Satan. Note the difference between the “testing” in Genesis and the “tempting” of Jesus in Mark’s Gospel. God “tests” Abraham, but Satan “tempts” Jesus; as St. James notes, God doesn’t tempt us (James 1:12-18).
So, God tells Abraham to take his only-begotten son Isaac and sacrifice him on Mount Moriah. This is the location where Solomon later built the temple.
Now, Isaac was actually not the only son of Abraham, b...
