5/7/23   (communion)    John 14:1-14,   1 Peter 2:2-10    Power Surge Jesus promises that he will empower us…even us to bring light to the world. Jesus did some incredibly power things in his day yet he says we will do even greater things…to follow Jesus is to have faith that he empowers us to do his work in the world…to have the confidence that Jesus is saving the world through us.

4/30/23   John 10:1-10    The Door     Jesus speaks of himself as a door…THE door that leads to God. If he is the Door, he is not the destination, the end result, but the way to that…which is also why he calls himself the way…A door tells you a lot about the character of a house…and what goes on inside.

4/16/22 John 20.19- 31 The Resurrection of the Body Christianity is founded upon an astounding, unexpected, but nevertheless real event: the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Christians are those who see all human history, all human destiny in the light of this event. This is the core , founding, irreducible event upon which our faith rests. We believe in the resurrection of the body.

4/9/22 Easter communion John 20.1- 18 Through Closed Doors The risen Christ moved through closed doors in order to get close to his disciples. The power of the resurrection is a promise that there is no force on earth including the forces of our own doubts and unfaithfulness that can keep the risen Christ from us.

4/2/22 Palm Sunday communion Matthew 21. 1-17 Palms or Passion? We all love a parade but behind this parade, a storm is a brewin’. The parade ends at the temple steps and then Jesus turns the tables…literally upside down. How do we balance the dance of Palm Sunday with the drama and depression of Good Friday?

3/26/22 5th Lent Ecclesiastes 3.1-11 Busy: Restoring Connection to an Unhurried God Part 5: The Right Time According to Ecclesiastes, seasonality is not simply limited to the literal seasons of the year. There is a “time for every matter under heaven.” If I had my druthers, healing would always be in season and killing never would be. It would always be a time to build up and we would never need to tear down anything. The time would always be right for laughing and dancing. I wonder how our experience of life would change if we set down our fantasies of finding some sort of permanent state of bliss and embraced its actual rhythm and flow.

At the very least, you should blow the dust off the old Byrds album from the ’60s and listen to the song Turn Turn Turn. The fun fact is that the words for the song are direct quotes from the Bible for the majority.

3/19/22 4th Lent Luke 12.16- 21 Busy: Restoring Connection to an Unhurried God Part 4: The Pleasure of God What’s in your wallet—the wallet of your life? What are you accumulating? Are you truly accumulating “peace of mind” for a rainy day or just a whole lot more worry and stress? Are you accumulating the “assurance” you need of some glorious time in the future when you can enjoy the very things that could actually be enjoyed right now? If so, Jesus would advise you take a lesson from the rich fool. Spend your money on heaven—on accumulating love, which is our experience of heaven in the here and now. Your investment will be rewarded. It is “God’s good pleasure” to give you the Kingdom. And rumor has it that this is the only investment you can take with you beyond this life into the next.

3/12/22 3rd Lent (communion) Psalm 113.1-4   Busy: Restoring Connection to an Unhurried God Part 3: The Assurance of God In Hebrew, the root word for “blessing” (barakah) means to “bend the knee.” If you “bend the knee” toward God’s Creation— noticing and admiring God’s handiwork, treating Creation as the incarnation of God’s  love itself—then you will discover “Christ in all things,” and you will live a blessed life. Every day would truly become for you a holy day

3/5/22 2nd Lent Luke 10:38-42    Busy: Restoring Connection to an Unhurried God Part  2:  The Hope of God Most people I know consider Jesus to be a pretty fair-minded  kind of guy, at least until they consider the story of Mary and Martha. What do you think?

With our apologies, the video had technical difficulties. So instead, we’ll leave you with a written synopsis.

2/26/22 1st Lent  Matthew 11.28-30   Busy: Restoring Connection to an Unhurried God  Part 1: The Yoke of God So, Jesus invites the weary to come to him and find rest. He  wants all of us who are carrying heavy burdens to take his yoke upon us—and he seems  to say this is easy. Do these words sound very realistic? As attractive as they sound, our fast-paced lives make it hard to imagine how Jesus’s invitation could possibly apply to  us. Our schedules are so full of work, family, and other obligations that the mere suggestion of a yoke that could be “easy” and a burden that could be “light” seems absurd. Was Jesus “yoking”? (See what I did there.)

Today was a National Day of Unplugging 2023…inviting people to bring their cell phones  up and place on the chancel.