This week’s call to worship is based on Psalm 67 and Acts 14:15-17. The idea is that the leader would read the plain text, the congregation the bold, and everyone the bold italics. (The picture is from my yard.) We come together to praise you, God. For you are the Living God who made the…
You might think that the church folks would be happy about a bunch of baptisms–but these were Gentiles. They were upset that the Gentiles were being brought into this faith community. There were religious differences between Jews and Gentiles, yes. And also ethnic/racial differences. Jews and Gentiles had different cultural heritages. They did not understand…
I wish I could say that I carefully planned out our Acts series so that World Communion Sunday would correspond to Peter’s vision-fueled defense of eating with uncircumcised men. (Acts 11:1-18) But I can’t. It was all Holy Spirit . . . or dumb luck. But it is working out well. Below are a couple…
So I have another story about holy space and tears and unconsumed communion bread. You can read it over on Huffington Post.
My family shared communion bread in my father’s hospice room before he died. We blessed it, broke it, and ate it. My mom caught a few medical professionals off guard by holding the loaf out to them when they came into the room to check Dad’s blood pressure or give him his medications. But all…
Have you read the Lectionary texts for this week? I will admit that I’m happy to be in the midst of a sermon series on Acts. After the Lamentations and dashing babies against rocks, you hold out some hope for the Gospel reading only to be told that you are a worthless slave. . .…
One of the many benefits of reading through the entire Bible in a year is re-reading scriptural gems that I had forgotten about. This morning I started reading Second Corinthians and ran across a forgotten favorite in verse 20: For in [Christ] every one of God’s promises is a “Yes.” Here is a Call to…
*This is an excerpt from last Sunday’s sermon. You can read the entire sermon text here. Acts 6:1-7 So, did you get what happened here? Some people in the church went to the pastors and said, “Hey. The care, the charity of the church, is not being distributed fairly. You Hebrews aren’t giving our Hellenist…
We have been in our new home for about two months now, and an introduction to the space is long overdue. Ryan and I have taken to calling our 3.3 acres a “ranchette,” and we have lots of plans for future gardens, paths, arbors, native prairie grass, a fountain, a pond, maybe even a gazebo.…
[This is from a sermon preached at Peace Mennonite Church on August 4, 2013. See this page for the full sermon text.] In many ways, this odd little fable-story from 2 Kings reveals the folly of our attempts at national security. But in the end, Israel does achieve security. Elisha will not let the King…
Spacious Faith 