As we gathered for worship today we heard scripture which recounted the death of Absalom, David’s son, directly against David’s wishes. We also heard about the depths of despair, not only from David but the Psalmist who cried out to God for deliverance. We also heard a challenge in our New Testament to live in […]
In worship today was a day we heard human stories: Nathan taking David to task, which led to David’s contrition and restoration; the reflection that all sin and that God alone can remove the sin and restore to relationship. But most importantly, we heard about building unity in creation – using the gifts given by […]
Our time together on Sunday is one where we are fed and challenged to see God in our world, especially in the coming weeks. In worship we heard a variety of stories: David and his #MeToo moment with Bathsheba and Uriah; the Ephesians being reminded of the true source of power in their lives; and […]
The topic of story and how our story is important follows in our scripture today. And yet, this didn’t preclude a story-teller’s distraction: concrete. It was interesting to reflect on our story as the stuff that binds the disparate parts of our Parish and our world together. While it would be easy to talk about […]
In this season we celebrate our life and charge of caring for community and God’s bounty, freely bestowed on us. In church today we faced a challenge, especially from a preacher’s perspective. Do we preach about David dancing like a fool and the animosity between David and Michal? Or maybe we preach about the beheading […]
As we worshiped today we remembered the blessings and grace in our lives: from the firm foundation of Jesus to God’s “Amazing Grace”. Scripture helped us remember that we receive many blessings in our life and the greatest gift we receive is God’s grace. The work we do and the results we accomplish are directly […]
In our worship we have been keeping our practice new and our ears and hearts open for the movement of the Holy Spirit. Our lessons helped remind us that when we work to share our relationship with God our failures aren’t failures; that God is able to sustain us and make our eager offering effective […]
Ironically, today’s gospel was Mark’s first recounting of a windstorm buffeting Jesus and the disciples. Jesus chose a moment when the time was right to go across the Sea – even though it was night and (as we found out later) a storm was ‘a coming. The disciples were so perplexed by the storm they […]
Samuel and Paul welcome us in our worship and scripture – Samuel was instrumental in helping change the direction of Israel in the time of change from the judges to the monarchy. While Paul served a reminder that our faith is what helps us navigate the changing landscape of life. The faith we have, as […]
Our scripture coupled Israel’s cry for a king in the days of Samuel, over God’s promise to be God forever, to Paul’s interaction with the Corinthian church as they were having a crisis of faith. It is worth remembering the crises Paul talked about all those years ago still apply today – many parts of […]