Good morning, God. Thank you for today. Thank you for being with me this morning, today, this evening, and forever. Amen. (from Pastor Eric’s Children’s Time message on April 10, 2016)
A Place of Grace
Sermons (Page 52)
On this “Doubting Thomas Sunday”, Pastor Beth illustrated with a huge mirror that we all have questions, doubt and uncertainty. We all want something we can touch, something tangible we can hang on to, to solidify our faith. After Easter, Christ came back especially for Thomas, to show him, and us, that he is God’s “more”. He is ”…
On this glorious Easter Sunday, Pastor Eric exclaimed, “We are all entombed!” For the children’s sermon, he used the example of a butterfly shedding its cocoon. With the Gospel text of Luke, he explained that Jesus was talking about change to two kinds of people: the sinners, the poor, the marginalized people, and the rich,…
St. Mark celebrated Easter Vigil today on this Palm Sunday. The Gospel spoke to Jesus’s disciples at the empty tomb wondering where Jesus had been taken. Mary sees Jesus but initially does not recognize him – until he calls her name. Pastor Eric asked the congregation, “Where have YOU seen Jesus?” He then shared two…
Today was Good Sunday and we experienced Good Friday, the second part of the Great Days of Holy Week-called the Triduum. Normally, these services are held on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday before Easter Sunday. We continue to learn more about these services as we journey through Lent from “Ashes to Easter”. Today’s liturgy is…
The word Maundy is derived from a French word meaning mandate or command. It commemorates the last opportunity Jesus had to give out his instructions or teachings. Jesus knew his hour had come. He was with his disciples and began to wash their feet, to show he loved them to the end, and to set an…
At St. Mark, we are on an alternative timeframe for our Lenten journey from ‘Ashes to Easter’. Today we celebrated Palm Sunday. This was Jesus’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem on the back of a colt (donkey). Pastor Beth talked of Luke’s Gospel, 19:28-40, not naming the two disciples who were sent to find a colt…
All are welcome to the Wednesday Evening Soup Suppers and Lenten Worship. Soup is served at 5:45pm in the Parish Hall and the “Open My Life” service begins at 6:30pm in the sanctuary. Each week, members of St. Mark will offer reflections on what it means to Open their Lives to God. Our preachers…
This Lenten Sunday was a service of Healing, Forgiveness and Reconciliation. As we journey through the season of Lent, we trust in the healing power of God’s love. As a symbol of God’s healing love, when we went forward for communion, we were anointed with oil with the sign of the cross on our forehead.…
Pastor Beth asks us, in this sermon, to spend this Lent deliberately fostering our relationship with God. For some that is giving something up – something that is a barrier to our relationship with God. Pastor Beth encourages us to also add things that foster our relationship with God; for some that might be helping…