Advent 4 & Christmas Eve
Shelter means “refuge, covering, protection.” In a world where dangers are real, shelter is the place you go to be safe. Your body needs shelter, as does your spirit. For many of us, shelter remains elusive. At the heart of the Christmas story is a family who is unsheltered and afraid. Will they find shelter? […]
Advent 3: Making Room
Shelter means “refuge, covering, protection.” In a world where dangers are real, shelter is the place you go to be safe. Your body needs shelter, as does your spirit. For many of us, shelter remains elusive. At the heart of the Christmas story is a family who is unsheltered and afraid. Will they find shelter? […]
Advent 2: God’s Promise of Shelter
Shelter means “refuge, covering, protection.” In a world where dangers are real, shelter is the place you go to be safe. Your body needs shelter, as does your spirit. For many of us, shelter remains elusive. At the heart of the Christmas story is a family who is unsheltered and afraid. Will they find shelter? […]
Rethinking the Parable of the Talents
Sermon Series: A Household for the Poor (Nov. 12th, 19th, 26th) “The poor you will always have with you,” Jesus says. In American Christianity, this saying has been adapted to fit our context of charity for the poor. “Do what you can to help,” it seems to say, “but you will never ‘solve’ poverty, so […]
Remember
All Saints is a holiday of remembrance–a day when we call to mind the saints in our own lives. The Christian tradition–and the Good News of God for the world–does not continue except through real flesh-and-blood people. All of us have friends, neighbors, parents, mentors in our lives who have shown us what the Way of […]
Does God have any further use for Protestants?
On October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther purportedly pounded his 95 Theses on the door of the church at Wittenburg, Germany. 95 brash bullet points to correct the errors of the church. It was an incendiary moment. Luther’s actions fanned the flames of a movement that became known as the Protestant Reformation. God needs no intermediary to […]
Accountability
“Wherever two or three are gathered in my name” has become a euphemism for very small worship services. But look again at the passage. It is about much more than that. It is about what we owe to one another in mutual accountability. It is about how we treat each other not in the good […]
Mercy
“I desire mercy and not sacrifice,” Jesus says. Why does Jesus insist that the church be a place of mercy? It must be because the people whom Jesus intends to be the church are the ones who mess up. Within the church, we are not permitted to make distinctions among ourselves based on who has […]
St. Francis Sunday
Worship at 8:30am (indoors) and 11am (outdoors, weather permitting) Bring your dogs, cats, rats, ferrets, camels, gerbils, and snakes for our annual Blessing of the Animals. Worship celebrates the gift of God’s Creation and invites us, in an age of dangerous human-caused climate change, to love the earth with our whole being.
My Family has “Issues”
We are called by God to be like sisters and brothers to one another. But God knows being family ain’t easy at all. We explore the story of Jacob & Esau — an ancient story of brotherhood, deceit, and reconciliation — for its wisdom for all families in conflict today.