Born into the family of a wealthy merchant, Francis gave up his inheritance to serve poor people. He formed the Order of Friars Minor (called Franciscans), who took on poverty and the task of preaching “using words if necessary.” Francis had a spirit for all of God’s creation. Next Sunday, October 4th, we will celebrate…
A Place of Grace
Worship (Page 46)
The 2015 ELCA Youth Gathering took place in Detroit, from July 15–19. Over 30,000 youth and chaperones attended this gathering. The theme for the 2015 gathering was “Rise Up”. Ford Field hosted a mass gathering each evening the 15th to the 18th, and a final morning service on July 19. Each of the three full days of the gathering…
Remember that this Sunday we return to two services—8:30 and 11:00. In between services from about 9:45-10:45, we will have a potluck brunch. Bring your favorite brunch food to share! We could use more help with set up and clean up. The Seahawks game will be on in the Parish Hall during the potlluck. We…
Pastor Norm Arnold, from the Living Stones Prison Congregation in Shelton, spoke of being Blessed with hearing many different stories in his ministry. In today’s gospel reading, Mark 7:24-37, Jesus wants to get away from the crowds yet people, some non Jews, still seek Him out. Jesus doesn’t care what society thinks of us because…
Tomorrow, Sunday, September 6th, during Children’s Time at our 10:00am worship, there will be a special “Back to School” blessing. Students of all ages, teachers, and school staff are invited to bring their backpacks or school bags for a blessing on the new school year!
This was the 13th Sunday after Pentecost and John 6:56-69 tells us the rest of the story of those who did not understand Jesus’s invitation to eat his flesh and drink his blood. Pastor Eric compared today’s gospel to Paul Harvey’s radio comments always having many parts to them and in today’s text, there is…
In Mark 6:1-13, Jesus calls his twelve disciples and starts to send them out, two by two, with nothing but the clothes on their body, the sandals on their feet and a staff because God’s Grace will take care of them. Pastor Eric spoke of how God’s Love comes down on us abundantly. God’s Love…
In today’s Gospel Lesson (Mark 4: 21-45), Jesus healed a hemmorhaging woman and Jairus’ daughter. For the sermon, Pastor Beth wrote a dramatic reading which was shared by two women in the congregation–Amy B. and Joyce B. In Pastor Beth’s creative interpretation of these stories, we dig a little deeper and see how, although life…
Mark 4:26-34 is the mustard seed parable gospel. Pastor Beth pointed out that we hear hopeful images in all our readings today. She spoke of the Redwood trees in California that have a shallow root system but the roots spread out widely and intermingle with other Redwood tree roots to support each other. We need…
The celebration at St. Mark on this fiftieth day of Easter, Pentecost Sunday, was four fold: Pentecost and the church was ablaze with the color red acknowledging God’s Holy Spirit that is sent to all people baptized in His name, the Confirmation of Drew and Nick, recognizing the high school graduation of Grace, and reaffirming St Mark’s love…