With the turning of the calendar page, comes a new set of readings. You can pick up a February bookmark at church this Sunday. Remember, don't try to catch up when you get behind. Just jump right in where you are supposed to be. Pick up the earlier readings later if you have time but keep moving forward with the day to day plan. It's true that if you honor this plan, you will read the whole Bible in one year but that's really not our goal. Our goal is to allow God's word to meaningfully intersect our lives on a day to day basis. That's what Bible 365 is all about. It's not about how much you read; it's all about how you use what you read. The Old Testament reading today took us to that section of Exodus where the people of Israel engage in a time of great celebration. The only problem was they were celebrating the wrong things. Moses had been up on the mountain with God and the people just got tired of waiting. They complain to Moses' brother Aaron ... wanting a god they can see ... and Aaron gives them one. A golden calf. I want to focus on Aaron's response when he is confronted by Moses. It's found in chapter 32:24. "So I said to them, 'whoever has gold, take it off'; so they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf." Amazing isn't it how that golden calf, inanimate though it was, just came right out of that fire, on its own volition? Aaron didn't shape it or make it. He just stood there and watched it come out. How could anyone blame him for something the golden calf did? It's such a classic example of the human resistance to taking responsibility for our own actions. This hesitance to accept responsibility is demonstrated at the simplest level. "My keys are lost." instead of "I lost my keys." or "The vase fell and broke" rather than "I broke the vase." Our young adult Bible study saw an example of this in last week's Bible study on Eve. She blamed the serpent and Adam blamed her (and God too, after all "You gave me this woman."). One of the young adults raised this question. Wonder how things would have turned out if they had just admitted their sin and asked for forgiveness. Good question, isn't it? Here's the problem. Failure to take responsibility for our own failures and sins prevents the forgiveness of those sins. We are forgiven when we confess. To confess is to take responsibility for the wrongs we have done and for the good things we have not done.(Sins of commission and omission.) And when we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive our sins. But forgiveness is enabled by confession. This Sunday at every worship service, each of us will have a chance to confess our sins at Christ's table. And if we do .... we can receive the forgiveness that not only removes our sin but also empowers us to resist that sin in the future. Confession seems a small price to pay for such an incredible offer. I hope you'll join me at that table where we can all accept responsibility for our own actions and then accept forgiveness too. IN the mean time, watch out for those golden calfs .. they jump out at the strangest times. Blessings and love, Pastor Jan