Circleville UMC

06/16/2026

The first thing that strikes me about this passage is the hospitality of Abraham. These men were UNKNOWN to Abraham and yet he rolled out the red carpet. I think we can learn a lot about hospitality from this passage.

Once Abraham saw the three men, he went out to meet them, leaving his tent and the shade of the oak tree, he didn’t wait until they came close, he rushed out to show his good intentions by bowing low before them.

They have traveled many miles through the desert and so he offers water to wash their dusty tired feet and rest and refreshment under the oak trees where he made his home. He asks Sarah to make some bread and selects a choice calf, tender and good, to be prepared for the guests. This is all before he knew they brought glad tidings.

This really reminds me of the father of the prodigal son and how he lavished his returning son with love despite his actions.

Abraham’s expansive hospitality is also reflected in the actions of Jesus. As an itinerant preacher Jesus didn’t have a home to invite people into and demonstrate hospitality, even so, there are clear examples of him welcoming and eating with all types of people in the gospel accounts like Matthew, a tax collector, despised by his people, who became one of his closest companions. He shared water and conversation with a Samaritan woman, something unheard of at that time. He washed his disciple’s feet, taking on the role of a servant. And one of the clearest examples is when he feeds 5,000 people with 5 loaves and two fish - they were hungry and so he filled their stomachs. He didn’t say, “not my problem” – instead his great compassion moved him to action.

Following Christ in the footsteps of Abraham

06/12/2026

I think when we picture the biblical patriarchs we think of nomads riding camels and living in tents and while that is technically true we tend to forget how developed the cities of that ancient place were.

Ur in the time of Abraham was a cosmopolitan city of more than 100,000 inhabitants. The defining architecture was a ziggarut – a type of blocky pyramid. It was an important trade center, with a seaport and hand dug canals giving access to both the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean. Archaeologists have found artifacts there from far off places such as Afghanistan, India, Asia Minor and the Levant, hinting at the wealth and importance of TRADE in this ancient city. Ur was part of the Babylonian empire ruled by a written code of law drawn up by King Hammurabi. They used clay tablets and a language made of cuneiform symbols to write things down. Some of those tablets have been discovered and are preserved in museums granting us a glimpse into the life of those who lived so long ago.

Haran – where Abraham was residing with his family when God called him - is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth. Founded in the 18th century BC by settlers from Mesopotamia it is still a hive of human habitation. Haran is famous for its unique beehive-shaped mudbrick houses that originated in the 3rd century BC and which have been rebuilt in the same style many times during the intervening centuries.

The main thing I want to focus on today about Abraham is that God promised to bless Abraham and make him a blessing to others and this is not because Abraham is BETTER than anyone else. It’s not because he was a more RIGHTEOUS person than any other.

Following Christ in the footsteps of Abraham

06/02/2026

HERE was a NEW puzzle and a very CHALLENGING one!

In fact, I can say with total certainty after many hours of twisting this colorful cube in both fascination and frustration that THIS puzzle is beyond my ability to solve. In the past, I have managed to solve one face at a time pretty readily and even occasionally made it to two faces of solid color, but the other 4 faces remain beyond my ability to perceive the movements necessary and set RIGHT the proper pattern.

Now you might think this disappointment of a solution would put me OFF puzzle solving, but THERE you would be wrong. I still strive after solutions which escape me – I have found it to be the driving force in my intellectual life. Now, I have moved beyond material puzzles and I am striving after solutions to the GREATEST puzzle of all, not one I expect to solve in my lifetime but the ultimate puzzle of GOD.

Part of the puzzle of God is what is God’s relationship to humankind – as the Psalmist asks, what are humans that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? (Psalm 8:4)

We can start to unravel this puzzle by examining our scripture from Genesis – the creation story.

Discipleship in the Age of the Holy Spirit

05/26/2026

When Jesus lived on Earth, he promised his disciples that after he left them he would send another Advocate, a helper for them and this is the Spirit (John 14). We are not living in the time of Jesus, but in the time of the Spirit. We talk a lot about God and Jesus. I think generally we think of the Old Testament as a book about God and the New Testament as a book about Jesus and that is a fairly accurate description, but where can we find the Spirit in the Bible? Honestly, the whole book is about the Spirit because you cannot separate God from Jesus or the Spirit from either of them - but the Spirit is the hardest part of God to understand.

You will find the Spirit of God mentioned in Old Testament passages such as Genesis 1:2: “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters” (RSV). The Spirit of the lord was present in many of the people God called to serve as judges, warriors and kings like Joshua, Gideon, Samson and Saul (Numbers 27:18, Judges 6:34, Judges 13:25, 1 Samuel 10:9,10). In the New Testament we read about the Spirit of God descending like a dove on Jesus at his baptism (Matthew 3:16) and John the Baptist says, ““I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I, and I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matthew 3:11) Pentecost is the baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire that John referred to.

Acts 2:1-21

05/12/2026

When I was reading one of my devotionals last week the author had a list there of some people in the Bible who had suffered unjustly. On this list was Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his brothers (ok), Ruth and Naomi being widowed and left without a male family member in a patriarchal society (yeah) and also Paul, who was struck blind on that Damascus road (what?!) Was that really a bad thing? I mean, I always thought of it as a GOOD thing – a necessary event which transformed Saul into Paul.

Reading that one line opened a CRACK into unjust suffering that I hadn’t seen before. Because no one thinks undeserved suffering is GOOD – right? But what if it serves a good purpose?
That brings us to Jesus. Jesus suffered. I don’t think anyone would argue that. Also, he didn’t DESERVE it. I mean he wasn’t even preaching treason - give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and all (Matthew 22.21). Heresy also would have been difficult to prove – which is why the Sanhedrin didn’t even try and left it up to Pilate to do their dirty work. Jesus DIED because some felt threatened by the NEWNESS he brought to their faith. They feared CHANGE so they clung to TRADITION rather than let the Holy Spirit do its renewing work.

Peter talks about the suffering of Jesus in our scripture lesson but that’s not what I want to focus on today. I want to call your attention to verse 18 where it reads, “he was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.”

Jesus was crucified so that he could be Resurrected.

Acts 17:22-31

05/06/2026

In verse 6 Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” We talked last week about when he said, “I am the gate.” (John 10:9) and this statement seems to go right along with that - as you could easily imagine walking through a gate on your way to the Father. Jesus as the Way. Following his Way could mean we follow the EXAMPLE of his life or we follow his TEACHINGS or both! I’m sure you’ve heard me talk about the path of righteousness – I like to think that Jesus has gone on ahead of us down this path and by following his Way we will eventually come to the Father’s house, where there are many rooms and where Jesus has already arrived and prepared a place for us (vs. 2). He lived his life as a human being and has left us his teachings and examples from his time on earth. He has shown us that the Way is possible for a human to walk with a little help from the Holy Spirit!

John 14:1-14

04/28/2026

We are well into the Easter season but the memory of the Crucifixion looms in the shadows of Resurrection. Even though we have spent YEARS trying to come to terms with it, the suffering and death of our Lord still rests UNEASY in our minds, an unsolved puzzle we turn over and over again in our hands, seeking solutions. And I don’t think the least of it has to do with the example he SET for us - and reminders like this one we find before us today in First Peter bring this message into sharper focus.

Peter writes: “For to this you have been called, because Christ also SUFFERED for you, leaving you an EXAMPLE, so that you should follow in his steps.

We have been called to suffering. What?!?

Because Christ has given us this sacrificial gift and we are to follow his example – we also will be called to courageous sacrifice.

Ok?! What have we signed up for?

I have talked a little bit before about developing a theology of suffering and that is a way of explaining to yourself why people suffer.

In the development of my own understanding, I have gone back and forth between whether God assigns suffering to people or not. It is NOTICEABLE how much people turn their attention to God once they have something heavy to carry in their lives and it is also NOTICEABLE how much these hard things will shape the characters of the people they afflict. In these ways suffering brings about some good things.

But this doesn’t mean that GOD lays these burdens on people - and I know many prefer to think that suffering is the result of either CHANCE or SATAN’S INFLUENCE.

We need only consider that God created this world with its natural laws and geologic movements and human beings with their free will and rapidly expanding influence to be convinced that perhaps bad things just happen due to natural or human causes leaving God completely off the hook.

And we can recall that at the beginning of the book of Job, Satan (the accuser) is given permission by God to TEST Job and see if his faith is true. Satan also tests Jesus in the wilderness before he begins his ministry. So we can see that the Bible presents Satan as the instigator of calamity for the purpose of testing faith.

What if our suffering is a test?

surrender yourself to Jesus

04/21/2026

Imagine as those two followers of Jesus walked along, they were able to talk about the events that had just occurred in Jerusalem, they had about two hours while they walked. They knew Jesus had been crucified and they had seen the tomb, which was empty, just as the women reported, but they didn’t know what to MAKE of it. They were discussing all of the possibilities when a stranger comes and joins them.

Who is this stranger? Luke tells us this is the Risen Christ.

He spoke to them and their hearts burned within them. They didn’t know WHO HE WAS, but they knew he was SPECIAL because of the way they felt inside.

You will notice as you read the gospel accounts that this happens A LOT with the Resurrected Christ – people who KNEW him don’t seem to recognize him. He appears to Mary Magdalene and she thinks he is the gardener (John 20:15), then there is THIS story where they don’t recognize him until he breaks bread and then later, in John’s gospel, he stands on the shore while Peter and some of the other disciples are fishing. They don’t recognize him either until he tells them where to cast the nets and they pull in a miraculous catch of fish (John 21:7).

This happens with us too. We walk through life with the Risen Christ right beside us and fail to recognize his face.

Because he walks WITH us. Right BESIDE us on this dusty road of life.

His face looks different than we imagine, his voice sometimes sounds just like the voice of one of our DEAR friends speaking words that move our hearts in strange ways and bring the love of God near to us.

He walks with those who have been put in harm’s way and he walks with those who love them, he walks with those whose bodies have been beset by disease and those who are battling the ravages of time, he walks with those whose minds are anxious and those whose minds are starting to betray them, he walks with those who have gone astray and he walks with all those who love him.

TURN AND SEE if you can’t see him walking there beside you.

Luke 24:13-35

03/17/2026

https://open.substack.com/pub/dawnduryea/p/healing-the-blind?r=2mayq1&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

03/11/2026

https://dawnduryea.substack.com/p/is-god-with-us-or-not?r=2mayq1