Sermon From November 22

Communion, Deacon, Sermons, Uncategorized, Worship
Matt 25:31-46 Sheep and Goats  Our Gospel is from the 25th chapter of Matthew. Today is Christ the King Sunday.  It is also last day of the church calendar.  Next Sunday we begin a new church year with Advent!   On this day we celebrate the Reign of Christ.  While it is true that we remember that Christ is our King every Sunday – on this Sunday we make special efforts to affirm that statement.  All the other empires that might strive to assert their power over us – the financial markets, political realms, or status symbols that hope for our supreme allegiance – they do not hold dominance.  Instead we end our church year declaring that Christ is our King!  God is sovereign ruler of our lives. Time and again,…
Read More

The sacredness of holy communion

Communion, Deacon, Newsletter
Most Sundays, after serving communion to the congregation, Pastor Kirsten and I serve one another.  This is an intentional theological statement.  We are servants of Christ and, by our calling, we are your servants.  Servants are fed last.  I find this part of the service to be very sacred.  As we “clean up” after the meal, the final act is to put the pall (the cloth covering) over the bread and wine.  I can’t tell you why, but when the cloth hangs in the air for just a moment before being caught by the assisting minister, it is a very spiritual moment for me.  Maybe I feel the fluttering of the wind of the Spirit at that instant.  Maybe it marks the end of a deeply meaningful meal.  I’m not…
Read More

Sermon for September 1, 2019

Communion, Faith, Grace, Pastor, Sermons
Gospel: Luke 14:1, 7-14; First Reading: Jeremiah 2:4-13 A couple of years ago, there was an article that came out on the Kitchn, a website full of recipes and articles to inspire every aspect of home cooking. The title of this article is “5 Rules for Hosting a Crappy Dinner Party (And Seeing Your Friends More Often).” In it, the author talks about her stress toward inviting friends over for dinner in the midst of her life with three kids. She would stress over cleaning, including snapping at her kids to do their share, and the added time for shopping and preparing a special meal.  A friend of hers moved back from a small community where she said the people would just show up at each other’s houses, unannounced, and feed each other whatever happened to be in the fridge. Inspired by this, they decided to…
Read More