When you imagine Jesus, what does Jesus look like, what does he act like? (Let Congregation answer) I often imagine this well spoken man, a brave man, not the poorest of the poor but not wealthy. I tend to imagine Jesus very much being like me. I imagine him as the ultimate comforter and these … [Read more…]
When you think of hospitality and welcome, what words come to mind? What images come to mind? I think as Christians we don’t spend nearly enough time contemplating the importance of hospitality in our world, in our lives, and in our experiences. We all know what it feels like to be truly welcomed and on … [Read more…]
So I was reading Weird Church this week and came across the Greek word oikos and immediately thought to myself “Yogurt? What does Greek yogurt have to do with church? That’s bizarre.” But as I continued to read I learned the Oikos is a very important and ancient Greek word that became synonymous with the … [Read more…]
When you hear the word salvation, what images, rules, feeling, or thoughts come to mind for you? For me when I think of salvation I think of heaven and hell, reward and punishment. I think of rules and regulations and I think of the centuries where priests and religious leaders have laid out certain rules … [Read more…]
Where is God’s House? This is the question that Solomon humbly approaches in our scriptures today. He was tasked with building the very first temple for God, and he did to the grand specifications of his father King David. Yet in all the glory and grandeur of that newly built temple, he stood questioning whether … [Read more…]
The Bible is all about relationships between nation and nation, person and person, person and God, and nation and God. God’s covenant is about relationship, Christ’s message of salvation is rooted in relationship and striving to achieve right relationship with one another and with God. It’s all about how we choose to live together. Sometimes … [Read more…]
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a drive through for prayer? It would be a simple modern day way to handle our conversations with God. The other day my husband and I were out running errands all morning and we were famished by lunch time. So we decided to splurge a little and stop at … [Read more…]
This morning as we continue our long weekends for Memorial Day, I think it is important for us to remember why we celebrate Memorial Day. It was established as a way to bring the two sides of the civil war, the confederates and the union soldiers, together to pay respect to all those who lost … [Read more…]
A new way, a new life, this is what has been offered by Christ. This is what Jesus signifies in his visit to his home synagogue with his comments after reading the scriptures? This is what we see reiterated in Paul’s description of the gifts of the spirit. With the coming of the Messiah, with … [Read more…]
Today we celebrate Epiphany. Most westerns know Epiphany to be a celebration of the Wise men coming to honor Jesus for the first time. But this is not what Epiphany originally celebrated. The Epiphany tradition originates out of the Eastern Orthodox traditions and celebrates not the wise men but rather Christ’s baptism and it was … [Read more…]
