The celebration of “Holy Cross” occurs on September 14th. Pastor Beth shared her personal struggle with understanding the meaning of Jesus’ death on the cross. She wondered, Why did Jesus have to die? Wasn’t there another way for God to redeem humanity? We do not have to completely understand the cross to stand under it…
There are 613 laws in the Old Testament and 1050 Commandments in the New Testament. Rules are important; they provide structure, organization and fairness. Rules make choices easier and give guidance and protections as we live together. But all the rules in the Bible can be lumped into one…Love God and love your neighbor as…
In Matthew 16:21-28, Jesus told his disciples, ” If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” The second reading for this Sunday, Romans 12:9-21, Paul goes into detail as to how to follow Jesus’s example. Pastor Eric asked us what does that mean and…
Lessons for the 11th Sunday after Pentecost, from Matthew 16 and Psalm 138, beg us to ponder identity. Who is God? Who is Jesus? And who are we. We live in a world with violence, hatred, illness, poverty, brokenness. Pastor Beth’s sermon reminds us we have to ponder this, but we cannot let the world define who…
In today’s gospel, Peter asks Jesus to explain a parable that had offended the Pharisees. Jesus tells his followers that faith is about the heart and not about the rituals that we do. As Jesus is explaining this parable, a woman, a marginal person in their society, approaches Jesus in a loud voice begging that…
In our Gospel today, the 14th chapter of Matthew, we are reminded of the story of Jesus reaching out to save Peter as he was sinking, asking “Why did you doubt?” As Jesus reached out to his disciple Peter, he sends us out to pick people out of the water. He is always challenging us…
Matthew’s gospel, 14:13-21, shows us once more Jesus demonstrating his compassion by performing one of his greatest miracles….the multiplication of the five loaves and two fishes to feed the thousands of followers who were with him in ‘a deserted place.’ Pastor Eric gave us examples of compassion in our present life stressing that every time…
The story of the mustard seed from the Gospel of Matthew is just one of the parables Jesus used in his teachings. It illustrates how the smallest seed planted can grow into something much bigger…like a great tree from a seedling, or loaves of bread from yeast. Jesus described the Kingdom of God as “like finding treasures”, “like casting…
Jesus told parables and allegorical interpretations of these parables became popular for a long time, but not for hundreds of years.
Matthew’s gospel today talks about the conflict of good and evil but uses the parable of wheat and weeds and how to take care of either.
(Ret.) Pastor David Nelson explained how those of us that believe in God have a hard time explaining the present day mess of our world.
God asks us to tolerate a mixed field of wheat and weeds.
The best and only solution to evil is God in reconciliation of the world through unshielded Love for each other.
In this Sunday’s Gospel, 13th chapter of Matthew, Jesus uses the parable of several types of soil: the well traveled path, rocky ground, thorny ground, good soil…and describes how seeds grow in each. Jesus invites us to look at our life, our heart, our soul, our actions, to see how we sow our seeds, and…