Mike Landry: Catholic speaker, writer, & music minister in Alberta, Canada HomepageMike Landry: Catholic speaker, writer, & music minister in Alberta, Canada

unfolding scripture

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Unfolding John 4:5-30

Photo Credit: By Neogeolegend (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
The story of God’s people in the Old Testament shows both the incredible faithfulness of God as He brought them from one holy couple into one universal (world-wide) Church.  It’s an epic story that features many twists and turns bringing to life the statement that “God writes straight with crooked lines,” and that He often uses unexpected people for tremendous things.

One such story of an unexpected person whom God used for a tremendous purpose was the samaritan woman he encountered in John 4:5-30, whose story is the subject of our study today. [Read more…] about Unfolding John 4:5-30

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Unfolding John 1:6-34 (Jesus and John the Baptist)

Photo Credit: Francesco Trevisani [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
After we read the definitive Christian origin (creation) story of John 1:1-5, John’s Gospel turns our attention to John the Baptist and what an extraordinary character he must have been.  We read in Matthew’s Gospel that he was a pretty wild looking man – wearing a cloak of camel’s hair (I suspect that would have been itchy!), a leather belt, and feeding on wild locusts (bugs) and honey (Matthew  3:4).  John’s mission was a simple and clear one: to “testify to the light” (John 1:7), something he’d been doing since before the time he was born (Luke 1:41-45).   [Read more…] about Unfolding John 1:6-34 (Jesus and John the Baptist)

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Unfolding Scripture: The New Covenant

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The Old Testament is a book filled with rich imagery and many of the seeds of the faith we proclaim as Christians.  Our whole study up to this point has been an examination of many of foundation pieces God laid in our story: promises which impacted the immediate and long-term future not only of Israel, but of all humanity. But if the story had ended with the last book of the Old Testament… much of this was not yet fulfilled.  While God hadn’t flooded the world again (as promised to Noah), the universal blessing promised to Abraham or the perpetual reign of a descendant of King David were still very much up in the air.  In the case of the promise to David, the generations which follow his son, Solomon, were rank with corruption; they saw the kingdom being split in two, invasion, and eventually exile.

But with Jesus comes the fulfillment of these promises and so many more.  St. Paul writes that: For in him every one of God’s promises is a “yes” (2 Corinthians 1:20).   [Read more…] about Unfolding Scripture: The New Covenant

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Unfolding Scripture: God’s Covenant with David

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Photo Credit: Angel [FAL], via Wikimedia Commons

Following the life and death of Moses, Israel lived for generations without a king.  Joshua brought them into the promised land, and for a time, they lived up to their end of the covenant.  But, in a cycle that would repeat itself a dozen times, Israel would fall into sin and God would allow them to be conquered and sent into slavery.  Israel would turn back to God, begging for Him to rescue them – which He would do, by sending one of the Judges (Samson is likely the most famous of these).

Israel grew tired of this, and began to beg for a king.  In spite of Samuel’s protestations that a king is subject to corruption – God promised to do precisely this for them (1 Samuel 8:22). [Read more…] about Unfolding Scripture: God’s Covenant with David

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Unfolding Scripture: God’s Covenant with Moses

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Following the time of Abraham, the people of God embark on an incredible journey.  There’s some good, there’s some bad, and there’s some ugly.  The descendants of Israel (Jacob) had grown from twelve sons into twelve tribes – and they’d gone to live in Egypt, as God had used the jealousy of brothers to save his people.  Unfortunately for the Israelites, their time in Egypt had taken a turn for the worse so that at the time of Moses’ birth, they found themselves in Egypt working as Pharaoh’s slaves and crying out desperately for a rescue.

God’s family plan made its way down the river, in the basket (Exodus 2:1-4)… and God again chose an unlikely hero. [Read more…] about Unfolding Scripture: God’s Covenant with Moses