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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Jun 11
Reflection: Mark Nepo's "Tragedy and Peace"
We are six weeks into a summer series using Mark Nepo’s The Book of Awakening as our text. This week, I am reading his passage from June...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Nov 21, 2023
The Stones Will Cry Out
Colossians 2:6-7 NRSVUE “As you therefore have received Jesus, the Christ, continue to walk in him, rooted and built up in him and...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Nov 15, 2023
Thanksgiving In Prayer
Philippians 4:4-7 NRSVUE 4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Nov 8, 2023
The Grace of Restoration
Jeremiah 30:18-19 NRSVUE “Thus says the Lord: I am going to restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob and have compassion on his...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Oct 31, 2023
Gratitude and Thanksgiving: Our Forms of Praise
2 Chronicles 5:13-14 NRSVUE “It was the duty of the trumpeters and singers together to make themselves heard in unison in praise and...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Oct 26, 2023
10th Commandment: You shall not covet...Love God, Love neighbor, Love self!
Exodus 20:17 NRSVUE 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female slave, ox,...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Oct 18, 2023
9th Commandment: You Shall Not Bear False Witness Against Your Neighbor
Exodus 20:16 NRSVUE “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” Matthew 7:1-5 NRSVUE 7 “Do not judge, so that you may not...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Oct 14, 2023
8th Commandment: You Shall Not Steal: Thoughts on the Israeli/Palestinian War
Exodus 20:15 NRSVUE “You shall not steal.” Matthew 6:19-21 NRSVUE 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Oct 6, 2023
7th Commandment - You Shall Not Commit Adultery
Exodus 20:14 NRSVUE “You shall not commit adultery.” Matthew 25:1-13 NRSVUE 25 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten young...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Sep 26, 2023
6th Commandment - You Shall Not Murder/Kill
Exodus 20:13 13 “You shall not murder.” Matthew 5:21-22 NRSVUE 21 “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Sep 19, 2023
5th Commandment - Honor Your Mother and Father
Exodus 20:12 12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you....
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Sep 12, 2023
Welcome the Stranger
“I had crossed the line. I was free; but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land.”...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Sep 6, 2023
4th Commandment - Keep the Sabbath Day Holy
Exodus 20:8-11 8 “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10 But the seventh day is a...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Aug 30, 2023
3rd Commandment - Misrepresenting God
Exodus 20:7 NRSVUE 7 “You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Aug 22, 2023
Reflections on 8 Years of Ministry
Where to begin – I suppose at the beginning. When I first received a phone call regarding my profile, I was a little stunned because...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Aug 15, 2023
2nd Commandment - No Idols
Matthew 4:1-4 NRSVUE 4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. 2 He fasted forty days and...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Aug 14, 2023
Encounter at Callahan's
Tonight, I was with my wife at a local restaurant. As we were preparing to pay for our meal, there was a man already at the checkout; his...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Aug 8, 2023
1st Commandment
Author's note: Long post warning. I pray it is a good read. Matthew 19:16-22 NRSVUE 16 Then someone came to him and said, “Teacher, what...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Aug 5, 2023
Introduction to the 10 Commandments
Here is the shortened version of the 10 Commandments: 1. You shall have no other gods before me. 2. You shall not make for yourself an...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Jul 25, 2023
Welcome the Stranger
Leviticus 19:33-34, Inclusive Bible Do not mistreat the foreigners who reside in your land. The foreigner who lives among you must be...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Jul 18, 2023
Bridging the Gap
Genesis 28:10-19 10 Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. 11 He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Jul 11, 2023
God’s Word – A Conversation About Scripture
In 2019, Karen Armstrong published her book The Lost Art of Scripture: Rescuing the Sacred Texts. I started reading the introduction and...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Jun 26, 2023
34th General Synod of the United Church of Christ
I cannot recall ever having written anything about General Synod in a Blog Post. Sounds kind of boring, really. But Synod begins on...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Jun 21, 2023
Our Amazing Selves
“Within Young Leaves” The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo Wrapped within young leaves: the sound of water. —Soseki "This delicate...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Jun 13, 2023
Risk and Trust
“A Wisdom Moment of Trust” The Book of Awakening, Mark Nepo "The need to step into what we fear and, in so doing, disperse its hold on us...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
May 22, 2023
Women's Equality
The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus Chapter 105:1-8 (Mirrors the Gospel of Luke 8:1-3) "1. Now, many women who possessed much wealth, and abode...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
May 15, 2023
Physical Health - Jesus' Ministry of Healing
Luke 17:11-19 11 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he entered a village, ten...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
May 7, 2023
Mental Health - Healing the Gerasene Demoniac
Luke 8:26-39 26 Then they arrived at the region of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 As he stepped out on shore, a man from...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
May 2, 2023
Abundance vs. Scarcity - A Different Way to Look at Poverty
Luke 21:1-4 21 He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; 2 he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Apr 25, 2023
“The Alien Resident Among You”
Luke 4:22-30 “22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is this not Joseph’s...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Apr 18, 2023
Introduction - The Social Ills of Jesus' Day
Luke 4:18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Apr 11, 2023
Love One Another
There was another mass shooting today, the 146th mass shooting this year. Mass shootings are defined as a shooting death where four or...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Apr 4, 2023
Matthew 28:1-10 : Resurrection Life - Ditch the Cross
Matthew 28:1-10, NRSVUE 28 After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Mar 28, 2023
Palm Sunday: Matthew 21:1-17
21 When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Mar 21, 2023
New Covenant of Love
Jeremiah 31:33-34 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Mar 14, 2023
Atonement - Turning or Returning to God
My apologies - this is a long post, but hopefully a deeply informative one. There is much more I could say about Atonement, but hopefully...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Mar 6, 2023
Keep the Sabbath Day Holy
We continue our Lenten series on the ways in which we violate God's covenant and this week are looking at how to keep the Sabbath Holy....
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Feb 27, 2023
Leviticus 22:1-3 - Our Sacred Gifts
Leviticus 22:1-3 22 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 “Direct Aaron and his sons to deal carefully with the sacred donations of the...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Feb 20, 2023
Violating Covenant: Worshiping Other Gods
This coming Sunday is the first Sunday of Lent. Throughout Lent we will be looking at several of the ways in which we violate God’s...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Feb 13, 2023
"Enlarge Your Sense of Things"
"An aging Hindu master grew tired of his apprentice complaining, and so, one morning, sent him for some salt. When the apprentice...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Jan 30, 2023
Leviticus 11 - The Regulations on Clean and Unclean
Chapters 11-15 deal with the regulations on clean and unclean, but we are going to take them chapter by chapter because they each discuss...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Jan 23, 2023
Leviticus 8-10
As we continue our deep-dive into the Book of Leviticus, we learn more about the people of Israel, the God they worshiped, and maybe even...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Jan 16, 2023
Leviticus 6:7-7:38
This section of material is so fascinating to me. So often we have no context for the priesthood, nothing concrete enough to say, "This...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Jan 9, 2023
Leviticus: Chapters 1-7
If you've ever taken the time to read Leviticus then you will notice right out of the gate that God's instructions to Moses seem rather...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Jan 2, 2023
Leviticus: Content and Structure
Note: The New Oxford Annotated Bible, NRSV, provides an excellent introduction to each book of the Bible. The first section of material...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Dec 28, 2022
Holiness Code: An Introduction to Leviticus
In order to understand the importance of Leviticus, it is important to understand who wrote it and why. Most scholars adhere to the...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Jun 29, 2022
The Overturning of Roe v. Wade
A few days ago, the Supreme Court, in a 6-3 vote, decided to overturn Roe v. Wade, which removes federal protection of women who seek...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Apr 5, 2022
Searching for Peace on Palm Sunday
Most of us are familiar with the story of Palm Sunday, the day that Jesus rides in on a colt or a donkey into the city of Jerusalem just...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Jul 29, 2021
Exodus 29:38-45 I Will Be Their God: Dwell Among Them
38 Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old regularly each day. 39 One lamb you shall offer in the morning,...
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Rev. Izzy Harbin
Jul 24, 2021
Genesis 45:1-15 - Joseph and Forgiveness
45 Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me.” So, no...
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