Aryeh Christian Hermitage

08/28/2026

https://sunsetridgechurch.org/reflections/for-the-halibut

I am a halibut. I have known this for quite some time, and I’ve made my peace with it.

07/18/2026

https://sunsetridgechurch.org/reflections/rabbits-in-the-field

I’ll chase a rabbit down any trail, and God knows that the Bible gives me plenty of rabbits and plenty of trails. This week was no exception.

07/16/2026

My article from July 1:

If you happen to be out on the sea floor, you might discover a snapping (pistol) shrimp and a goby fish spending their lives together. When I taught biology, symbiosis always intrigued my high school students, and the relationship between these two animals was a favorite topic. 

02/21/2026

Nehemiah 1:1-11

Nehemiah’s story begins far from Jerusalem and more than a century after the Jewish people were first displaced by exile (around 450 BC). In the Persian capital a thousand miles to the east, Nehemiah serves in the royal court. When news arrives that the walls of the city that once surrounded his people’s life together are in ruins, he understands that the news is both structural and revealing. In the ancient world, walls existed because peace and trust were elusive. The dilapidation of Jerusalem’s walls exposed how vulnerable and fractured the people of God remained.

Nehemiah’s first response is embodied grief. He weeps, fasts, and prays for days. Scripture often shows that God’s work of renewal begins with our awareness of need. We cry out, and God hears. Nehemiah knows his heart must be restored before his hands can begin the work, so his prayer is deeply communal. He confesses the sins of Israel as his own and remembers God’s faithfulness.

As we begin Lent this Wednesday, we prepare the church in a similar way. We confront what is worn down in us and turn again toward God’s mercy. We slow down for forty days of both individual and communal reflection. Nehemiah’s broken walls revealed how fragile the people had become, but reading with our historical hindsight, we know that rebuilding them will not permanently restore stability. The deeper need was—and is—shalom, the wholeness of life with God. Only God makes a community secure from the inside out, and as Nehemiah reminds us, our participation in that work should begin with the courage to grieve and the humility to pray.

12/18/2025

SALT & LIGHT for Thurs, Dec 18, 2025:

Ephesians 6:12 comes from Paul’s closing exhortations to the church in Ephesus, a city shaped by imperial authority, economic pressure, and pervasive religious systems. Writing to believers living within the power center of the Roman world, Paul reframes conflict at its root. By naming “rulers,” “authorities,” and “powers,” Paul draws from a Second Temple Jewish worldview in which unseen spiritual forces operate beneath our visible systems. His warning is pastoral: misnaming the battle leads believers to misdirect their energy and mistake people for enemies.

Hebrews 12:2 addresses a different kind of strain. Written to a community facing fatigue, social marginalization, and the temptation to withdraw, the author calls believers to sustained endurance. Jesus Christ is presented as the pioneer and perfecter of faith itself. The “joy set before him” fulfillment of God’s redemptive purpose—restoration accomplished through faithful obedience.

Read together, these passages reorder both vision and posture. Paul teaches the church not to misidentify the struggle, while Hebrews teaches where to fix attention when endurance falters. Strength comes not through escalation or intensity, but through clarity—learning to see Christ as Scripture reveals Christ, already enthroned, already faithful, already at work. When conflict presses close and weariness sets in, Scripture invites us to keep a steadied gaze upon God.

[Aryeh’s “Salt & Light” posts are based on daily scriptures from DailyVerses & YouVersion]



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Ephesians 6:12
[Paul writes] “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
BibleGateway: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%206%3A12&version=NIV

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Hebrews 12:2
[The author writes] “Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
BibleGateway: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews%2012%3A2&version=NIV

10/31/2025

SALT & LIGHT for Fri, Oct 31, 2025:

Proverbs 4:7 sits inside Israel’s wisdom tradition, framed as a parent’s instruction to a beloved child. It teaches that the first step toward wisdom is earnest pursuit—wisdom must be sought, received, and guarded. In biblical terms, wisdom costs everything because it reorders everything. The prize named alongside wisdom is “understanding”: seeing the world as God has ordered it, and walking accordingly.

Galatians 2:20 comes from Paul’s fierce letter to the Galatian churches (mid-first century), which was written to defend the gospel of grace. Herein, Paul declares union with Christ: the old self is crucified, and the believer now lives by faith in the Son of God who loved and gave himself. This is not mere moral improvement; it is participation in Christ’s life.

Together these verses name wisdom’s true center. The receipt of wisdom culminates in “Christ lives in me.” Wisdom has a price—the one that requires us to relinquish our self-control. Christ in our lives means we have lives lived in God's lavish love. Understanding becomes a type of belonging that reshapes our desires, our time, and our love. We “get wisdom” by consenting to Christ’s presence and practicing our surrender in prayer, where we choose faith over fear and let generosity replace grasping. Wisdom begins in pursuit and matures as awareness of God's divine presence.

[Aryeh's "Salt & Light” posts are based on daily scriptures from DailyVerses & YouVersion]



Proverbs 4:7
[Proverbs says] “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.”
BibleGateway: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs%204%3A7&version=NIV

Galatians 2:20
[Paul writes] “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
BibleGateway: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians%202%3A20&version=NIV

10/17/2025

SALT & LIGHT for Fri, Oct 17, 2025:

Mark 1:15 is the opening proclamation of Jesus’s ministry in Galilee. The time is fulfilled, and God’s long-awaited reign is breaking into history through Christ himself. This is not mere chronology; it is kairos—the decisive moment of divine visitation! Jesus calls Israel to repentance and faith, inviting them to soak in the presence of God’s kingdom, the stronghold of forgiveness and renewal.

Proverbs 18:10, attributed to Solomon, belongs to Israel’s wisdom tradition and declares the covenantal safety of God’s name. In ancient Israel, a tower was a refuge in siege. Invoking the Lord’s name symbolized trust in God’s steadfast protection. The righteous in this verse are not sinless, but they are folks who long to dwell in God’s covenant faithfulness.

Together, these verses draw us into the paradox of God’s nearness and God’s shelter. The kingdom is not a faraway promise—it is a strong tower now standing among us. Christ, who announces the kingdom, is the tower. His very name is refuge. To repent is to turn from self-defense toward divine protection, to run into the safety that has already opened its gates. The gospel does not merely call us to belief—it invites us to dwell within the mercy that has come near.

[Aryeh's "Salt & Light” posts are based on daily scriptures from DailyVerses & YouVersion]



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Mark 1:15
[Jesus says] “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
BibleGateway: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%201%3A15&version=NIV

Proverbs 18:10
The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.
BibleGateway: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs%2018%3A10&version=NIV

10/10/2025

SALT & LIGHT for Fri, Oct 10, 2025:

Proverbs 30:5 was written by Agur, a sage who confesses both awe and limitation before divine wisdom. His statement that “every word of God is flawless” draws on the imagery of precious metal refined by fire—Scripture as tested, purified, and strong enough to serve as a shield. In the ancient Near East, the notion of a shield was deeply covenantal: protection was not just physical, but relational. To take refuge in God’s word was to rest within the covenant itself, surrounded by faithfulness.

John 10:10 records Jesus’ words to the Pharisees and his gathered listeners in Jerusalem. Within this shepherd discourse, Jesus contrasts his mission of abundance with the false shepherds who exploit the flock. The thief destroys; Christ gives life. Not just survival, but fullness, joy, and restoration of our communion with God.

These two passages reveal a single movement of extraordinary (flawless) faithfulness. God’s word is not static text but a living promise carried in Christ, our breathing promise. Where Proverbs speaks of refuge, Jesus embodies it. To take shelter in the Word is to find ourselves led into life abundant, shielded not by walls, but by the mercy that walks beside us.

[Aryeh’s "Salt & Light” posts are based on daily scriptures from DailyVerses & YouVersion]



Proverbs 30:5
Every word of God is flawless; God is a shield to those who take refuge in God.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs%2030%3A5&version=NIV

John 10:10
[Jesus says] “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2010%3A10&version=NIV

09/28/2025

SALT & LIGHT for Sun, Sept 28, 2025

This proverb confirms that the upright are children of the King, invited to walk with heads lifted as they thrive under the divine protection of God. In many ancient courts, protocol required anyone entering the king’s presence must be low and subservient, bowed down to display their unworthiness before his power. But God’s righteousness is our shield, drawing us into covenant life with dignity and trust.

Ezekiel, prophesying in Babylonian exile, promises that such covenant uprightness will finally be possible because God will give us a new heart. No longer stone, heavy and unyielding, but tender and responsive, animated by God’s Spirit. Law first inscribed on Sinai’s stone tablets is now beautifully embodied as LOVE and continuously reshaping the very core of our existence.

Together, wisdom and prophecy frame the call and the gift. We are called to walk blamelessly, never shamed—for we walk as people who are forgiven and beloved. God’s love sustains our full presence, aligning our hearts with Christ’s own tender heartbeat. In this covenant life, we find ourselves shielded and renewed by the Spirit, and we discover that we are made new in God's overflowing grace.

[Aryeh’s “Salt & Light” posts are based on daily scriptures from DailyVerses & YouVersion]

Proverbs 2:7
He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs%202%3A7&version=NIV

Ezekiel 36:26
[God says] “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%2036%3A26&version=NIV

09/27/2025

A prayer.
My words spill as ink, salted—stained by tears, preserved in grief, yet tumbling into the slipstream of eternity. Ink and salt evanescent, like the fading toll of a bell. These vapors of thought are inscribed in my flesh as much as on the page. Christ, living ink, source of the salted covenant—let every page of Scripture taste of You, that our senses may sting and tingle with remembrance.