04/25/2026
It is estimated that there are over 1 million words in the English language (the Oxford English dictionary has roughly 600,000 words); common vocabularies have approximately 25,000 words, with understanding beyond that. The Greek New Testament contains approximately 5500 different words. (Numbers in preceding sentences found by asking google.) So, I wonder: How does one describe Jesus or the Godhead? Is our vocabulary (ancient or modern) sufficient? Undoubtedly, the answer to this latter question is "No," which presents a problem in answering the former. One must use figures of speech, such as we encounter in this Sunday's Gospel (John 10:1-10)--but each gives us only a partial picture of who Jesus is and how Jesus relates to us; in this case, images of sheepfold and gate (just beyond our reading, Jesus will identify himself with the image of shepherd). And, even when we put them all together, the picture is not complete. No wonder those listening didn't get it. Do we, or is it even more foreign to us?
– Pastor Jacob
You're invited to worship on Sunday, April 26 at 9 or 10:30am or Wednesday, April 29 at 6pm.
