“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 […]
Faced with impossible tasks, Jesus’ disciples asked him to “increase [their] faith!” We ask the same too when life in this world just seems too hard, too difficult, too painful. Jesus doesn’t answer them in quite the way they’d hoped. Faith cannot be stockpiled; it can only be lived. This worship service includes Communion as […]
Animals often know us better than we know ourselves, and they have much to teach us, if only we are patient and humble enough to pay attention. Today we wrap up the Season of Creation by celebrating Animal Sunday. Animals embody the good news, the gospel, that we are not alone in this world. This […]
Storms have a strange magnetic pull on us. They can terrify us, but they can also fascinate us, invigorate us, inspire us, and even soothe us to sleep. But when they grow and intensify beyond what we can bear, they overwhelm us with the realization of how climate change has tilted our planet out of […]
The ocean has captured human imagination, both mythical and scientific, for centuries. Deep, mysterious, dangerous and unpredictable…but also part of us. God cares for the ocean like a child, like our brother or sister. Jesus partners with the ocean to teach his followers and bring abundance to the people. Through Christ we are one with […]
A few months ago, NASA’s new Webb telescope showed us incredibly detailed and beautiful images of the Carina Nebula that captured our imagination. By showing the universe as a place where new life was being born, suddenly we didn’t feel quite so alone out here in our backwater arm of the Milky Way. God’s Wisdom, […]
Jesus meets a woman who has been suffering physically for eighteen years and heals her on the Sabbath…very controversial for that time. Everyone wants to jump into the resulting fray while the woman fades into the background. But Jesus sees her and reminds everyone that she is important too, just as important as the rule […]
Who doesn’t want peace? As it turns out…Jesus doesn’t want peace, according to the gospel reading today. Maybe that’s because the need for “peace” is often used as a reason to keep people quiet and let unjust powers rule the day. Jesus urges us to help him burn down the things that oppress others and […]