Today was the 3rd Sunday after Pentecost. The Gospel of Luke, 9:51-62, reminds us– Jesus is unwavering in his commitment to his mission in Jerusalem. He calls his disciples to a similar single-mindedness. Today at St Mark, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of our community garden during Children’s Time and after worship at a special…
A Place of Grace
Sermons (Page 30)
Pastor Beth began today’s sermon by asking the question, What is it that keeps you from living life fully, knowing you are a loved and forgiven child of God? Is it self-doubt? Something you’ve done…or didn’t do? Is it health issues? Addictions? Stress of relationships, work or finances? Maybe you have questions about God, religion,…
In the Gospel (John 16:12-15), Jesus says, “When the spirit comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will glorify me because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” He explained to his disciples that God’s Son had entered the world to reside in one body. He was leaving earth…
Pentecost is a day of promises fulfilled. The promised Spirit of God is poured out. Pastor Beth painted, while Pastor Eric preached. Everyone who calls on the Lord will be saved. The gentle, breezy, gusty Spirit of God will descend on us. There are three things that the Spirit reminds us: 1. Who we are.…
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Betty Rendón Madrid, a pastor at an Evangelical Lutheran church in southern Wisconsin, along with her husband, Carlos Giraldo. The family fled Colombia in 2004 after Betty received threats from guerrilla fighters while principal at a school. The family, in 2006, filed an application for asylum, citing those…
“When you are gone, what do you want your children and loved ones to know?” This question, posed by Pastor Beth on the 5th Sunday of Easter, reflects our Gospel reading for the day (John 13:31-35). Knowing his death was near, Jesus commanded his disciples to love one another as he had loved them. His…
Bobby McFerrin dedicated singing the 23rd Psalm to his mom. The first time Pastor Beth heard it sung, it moved her to tears because there is something profoundly beautiful in the feminine image of God. We need to open our hearts to experience the fullness of what God is. God is more than any human…
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. ‘You’ve heard the gospel story today, John 21:1-25, and I want to share my reflection on it’, said Pastor Eric. He read his poem on what he saw in today’s reading on the theme of ‘Follow me’ and then a poem, ‘Speech to the Young’, by Gwendolyn…
Today is the ‘Doubting Thomas’ gospel, John 20:19-31, in which Jesus asks Thomas, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe’. Pastor Beth was the motivational speaker at a recent Altrusa students’ scholarship awards ceremony and she said hearing the students’ stories…
“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Alleluia! Luke 24:1-12 tells of the women going to Jesus’s tomb with embalming spices only to find that the tomb was empty because He had Risen! Pastor Eric, for the first time, read his sermon to us. It…