The night is almost here! With Christmas only a week away, today the children take a turn as the preachers as they bring us the good news of Jesus’ birth through drama, story and song. The youngest among us tell the beloved story of how another child, a very special child, came into the world […]
At the heart of our Advent preparation stands John the Baptist, who calls us to repent and make a new beginning. As the darkness increases we turn toward the approaching light of Christ. For Christians, Jesus is the root of Jesse, the righteous judge who welcomes all, especially the poor and meek of the earth. […]
It has been said before that all human beings are storytellers. It is human nature to mine our past for nuggets of meaning, melt them down and reshape them into tools for building the future. Our reading from Isaiah talks about a time when all the nations will take weapons of death and reshape them […]
Kings are the stuff of legends and history in the U.S., complete with riches and power and glory. But Jesus is a totally different kind of king. The end of the church year is marked with the festival of Christ the King, when we celebrate and give thanks that Christ is greater than all earthly […]
Does the world just seem…different now? Harsher, angrier, quicker to judge? You’re not the only one feeling it. Jesus has some difficult words for the disciples to hear about how bad things can get, but there is an end in sight. All earthly things will pass away, but God’s presence with God’s people will never […]
When politics gets involved, questions rapidly turn into weapons. We see this all the time as we near Election Day, but it was true in the Bible too. Jesus takes the Sadducees’ somewhat ridiculous question and turns it into good news about what happens in the resurrection: no one is ever separated from God, even […]
Rooted in the past and growing into the future, the church must always be reformed in order to live out the love of Christ in an ever-changing world. We celebrate the good news of God’s grace, that Jesus Christ sets us free every day to do this life-transforming work, and share that grace with all […]
“A wee little man was he,” the children’s song goes, but Zacchaeus is much more complicated than that. When he runs ahead of the crowd and climbs a tree to see Jesus, he thinks he is safely out of everyone’s sight. Little does he know that Jesus sees all of us as we really are…and […]
In much of our life we are spectators, but in worship we are called to be full participants at whatever level we are able. Today we try something new: “Try It” Sunday, when we take time in the midst of worship to learn about worship, and how the different roles people fulfill each contribute something […]
Who gets to belong? Who is in, who gets to stay temporarily, and who is out…and why? These questions come up over and over again in our world, and the same was true in Jesus’ day. The gospel writer Luke tells a story about Jesus and ten sick people who ask him for help. Who […]