Love and power. That’s what we hear in God’s voice in the story of Jesus’ baptism. On one hand: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased,” and on the other hand: “Go out and boldly do what I called you to do.” In our baptism, God gives us a foundation […]
After all the presents have been opened and the excitement has faded, it’s good for our souls to rest for a moment and marvel at the mystery of the Incarnation, God becoming flesh in the person of Jesus. This is the heart of the Christmas story and the foundation for all our other celebrations. This […]
Link to the Bulletin for the Servicehttps://files.constantcontact.com/0f909607001/e1d546c4-a497-492f-b7ec-3ac93ea443ae.pdf Celebrate the twelve days of Christmas with fellow Lutheran Christians from across the Upstate New York Synod of the ELCA. This service includes carols, readings, prayers, reflections, artistic interpretations of the text, and a sampling of ministry from across the synod. The Bible readings for this worship service […]
We’ve all been thinking about bodies entirely too much during the COVID-19 pandemic. But guess what? Bodies are the star of the Christmas story. Bodies giving birth, filled with anxiety and fear, in need of warmth and shelter, bodies with smells and pains and fragility and tenderness. In Jesus, God chose to enter our existence […]
The children bring the good news of Jesus’ birth to us today. In a blast from the past, the gospel today is “Shepherds, Sheep and a Savior,” presented by our kids back in 2012. (Some of our 2020 kids also make a brief cameo at the end of the service.) Nobody likes to hang out […]
Online Worship: Third Sunday of Advent—Game-Changers We all have moments in our lives that are game-changers. Moments where everything before is different from everything that came after. Mary has one of those moments in our gospel reading today. How is God present and active in these moments? Are we in one of those moments now? […]
“God does not comfort us to make us comfortable, but to make us comforters.” (John Henry Jowett) Today we hear God’s words of comfort in Isaiah and Mark—as well as the call to follow in the footsteps of those who proclaim them. You may want to find two candles in your home and be ready […]
Hope is only real when it is based on honesty about who we are and what kind of a mess we’re in. Jesus promises to come back, not when everything is great, but in the very midst of our broken, hurting world. He urges us to pay attention to the signs in creation all around […]
Jesus says his kingdom is filled with those who recognize his own face in the faces of the hungry, the sick, the forgotten—and respond. Not those who check all the right boxes and add up their “points” and only help others when it helps them, but those who respond in faith that the little they […]
What do you do when you’ve been given something incredibly valuable? How do you figure out what to do with it? How do you get over the hurdles and obstacles that get in the way? Jesus tells a challenging parable with some “terrible” elements to try and help us see the true value of what […]