Faithing

Faithing

Our Sunday morning series on miracles in Matthew’s gospel continues to challenge me. What is the role of Faith in our lives? What does it mean to “believe?” Do I, do we, believe strongly, deeply enough? How do we even know? Faith is a noun, but it...
Can We Find Hope?

Can We Find Hope?

I finally just had to turn off the daily news on television, turn off the reports on the radio, and put the iPad down. It was, as you know and feel, overwhelming. The reports of sickness, anxiety, economic concerns, political strife and hatred, and conflict around the...
Loving the Neighbor

Loving the Neighbor

Wednesday evening we took a few minutes to read and explore Mark 12:28-34. It’s one of those “confrontation” stories with a religious leader, but this one ends more positively. A scribe asks Jesus this question: “Which commandment is first of...
Miracles in Matthew

Miracles in Matthew

It worked before – twice actually – so we thought we’d try it again. I’m thinking about a few years ago when we invited Sunday School classes to study the same curriculum and we explored the same biblical passages and themes during Sunday morning worship....
Gratitude and Thankfulness

Gratitude and Thankfulness

A couple of Sundays ago, the sermon focused on Colossians 3:5-17. You may recall that passage from Colossians included 3 lists of 5 qualities (vv. 5, 8, 12). Some of the lists were encouraging and positive; some were not. There was so much I felt the need to say about...
Metaphors

Metaphors

The list was impressive but intentionally one-sided. It was on the membership application card for the church and if you wanted to become a member, you must sign the membership card, agreeing to the list. What was the list about? Things you would not do if you became...