Dear Baptized, Martin Luther said that baptism, the rite of entrance into the Christian faith, is a ceremony that takes only a few moments to do but your whole life to finish. In fact, Luther said that whereas St. Paul says that in baptism the old Adam is drowned so that the new Adam might…

Opportunity: A set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something. It seems that God has given us plenty of opportunities lately. As I found myself in an internet rabbit hole one evening, I stumbled upon a video from the movie Evan Almighty. Though its predecessor was the better movie, it still has a…

It was a good morning to gather for worship via the stream, cool and fall-like. We looked at Matthew 21:23-32 where the religious leaders asked Jesus who did he think he was? (Where did he get the authority to teach in the temple,) and Philippians 2:1-13 where Paul lets us know how Jesus’ authority came…

Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians: If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each…

In the scriptures, we find lots of names for God. There a few reasons why that is. Some of them emphasize different characteristics of God. Some of them come from different time periods. Some of them come from cultural ideas of what a god should be. Here are a few examples: Elohim—this is the first…

One of my favorite things to do before sermon on Sunday is to get a cup of hazelnut coffee at the Panera near my house.  The smell is so refreshing, and the taste is so wonderful.  It makes my spirits fly high and I think there is nothing in this world that I can’t do. …

Dear Vineyard Workers, I read something years ago in the “Minsters’ Manuel,“ by James W. Crawford. The words made me uncomfortable. However, I photocopied them and keep them with some other papers where I know that I will see them from time to time. “In Christ’s vineyard, in contrast to every other vineyard we know, our…

I had always enjoyed reading the works of Mary Oliver, an American poet who passed away last year. It was after her passing however, that I really paid closer attention to her writing. Nature was her “go to” subject matter. Maybe because I feel closest to God when I’m out in the midst of nature,…

Worship was beautiful with lovely music, words of wisdom from the Bible and Pastor Dave, great prayers and a nice testimony about the school supplies drive. If you missed being able to worship via the stream with us, catch it here. Pastor Dave shared from Matthew 20:1-16, Jesus’ story of the workers who all got…

In my favorite movie, The Princess Bride, based on a novel by William Goldman, a question is asked: “Who says life is fair, where is that written?” It certainly isn’t written in the Bible, thank goodness. God is not fair. Not in the way we have come to define the term. He doesn’t play by…