I had the joy to spend three days in Hastings, Nebraska, Feb. 6-8, 2026. Pastor Greg Allen-Pickett invited me to teach and preach at First Presbyterian Church in Hastings. Pastor Greg started using The Art Pastor’s Guide to the Bible resources last year when the Narrative Lectionary was walking through the Gospel of Luke. I led their adult class via Zoom last year and introduced them to A Cartoonist’s Guide to Luke. We had a lot of fun, so Pastor Greg thought it would be a good idea to bring me their to teach the class live and then preach in worship as we look at The Gospel of John this year.
Hastings is home to Hastings College, which has a fantastic art department. Pastor Greg connected me with Turner McGehee, Professor of Visual Arts, and I was able to work with his drawing I class on Friday afternoon. It was so much fun to be in that environment again. Some of the students stayed afterward to look through my sketchbooks. They said that my art “tasted like nutella on toast.” I’m not sure what that means, but they assured me it was a positive reflection. 🙂
Here are some photos of my time in the class.
This is the sermon I preached in worship on Sunday morning.Â
The sermon was on the Narrative Lectionary texts from John 4:46-5:18.
This week we see another contrast between the northern region and Jerusalem. There was a royal official in Cana who saw Jesus for who he was and had enough faith in him that he asked Jesus to heal his son long distance. There was another man in Jerusalem who was the lowest of the low. Jesus breaks the Sabbath law and heals this man. Yet, in spite of the miracle of healing, the only thing that people can see in Jesus is a lawbreaker and a blasphemer. We see what we want to see.
Open our eyes, oh Lord
