Living, dying, loving, hating. There is a whole lot of mystery in our Gospel today, John 12:20-33, as Jesus talks about seeds planted in the ground. It is almost as if Jesus is speaking to his disciples and to us in a type of code. He uses things of the earth to describe things of…
A Place of Grace
Sermons (Page 42)
Pastor Beth began her sermon today with the Robert Frost’s poem, “Lodged”. “The rain to the wind said, ‘You push and I’ll pelt.’ They so smote the garden bed That the flowers actually knelt, And lay lodged – though not dead. I know how the flowers felt.” Many of us have felt like those flowers…blown…
John 2:13-22, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” Jesus drives the money changers and people selling doves sheep and cattle out of the temple. Pastor Eric told us that stories are memory devices and so are songs and sayings. There are thousands of songs about Love. There are sayings that we have heard over…
Mother Teresa is quoted as saying, “I’m a little pencil in the hands of a writing God who is sending love letters to the world.” Pastor Eric suggested that perhaps rather than a pencil, we are crayons in God’s hands. Sometimes whole, sometimes broken, always a community of many colors. Our scripture readings for this…
Today was the First Sunday in Lent. Pastor Eric said that, sometimes in life, we need to remember the big picture and that is what today’s text is all about. We are divinely endorsed creatures of God, who are gloriously and curiously, broken and beloved, forgiven appendages of God. But, who are we? What are…
In today’s Gospel (Mark 9), Jesus takes his three closest friends, Peter, James and John, to the top of a mountain where they see Jesus dazzlingly transfigured before them, and they hear the words, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” This miracle on the mountain is interpreted as a preview of how…
This was the 5th Sunday after Epiphany and the Gospel was from Mark 1:29-39 where we hear Mark tell of Jesus healing people wherever He goes. The essence of everything is in today’s text. Pastor Eric feels it captures the mystery of our Faith because it is the intimate Jesus lifting us up. Jesus goes…
Throughout the Bible, there are stories of Jesus approaching the unapproachable. In our Gospel (Mark 1:21-28) for this fourth Sunday after Epiphany, as Jesus began teaching inside the synagogue a man with an unclean spirit began shouting at Him. The force of the man’s accusations struck fear in those around him. With authority, Jesus commanded…
The Third Sunday after Epiphany’s Gospel is from Mark1:14-20 in which Jesus, who comes upon some men fishing, gathers more followers by saying that He will make them fish for people. Pastor Eric, with his fishing tackle box, talked of how different lures trick different fish to bite the fishing hook. Jesus did not trick…
Today’s Gospel is from John, Chapter 1. Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Pastor Eric drew our attention to two phrases from it: The word ‘found’, which comes from the Greek word eureka, and ‘heavens are open’. He asked us what is something we have found in our life after sharing an example of…