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 […]
Our worship began the journey in the post-Pentecost time. Our readings today focused on the things that are “allowed” on the Sabbath (which is allowed, to do good or to harm?) and how the Sabbath was created for humans not the other way around. But we took a harder look at the Hebrew scripture and […]
Today was a day to celebrate the mystery of God at work in the world and to remember we live and grow in community, often without realizing where we are called to grow. In worship, we heard stories of the complexity, at least from the human perspective, of God’s interaction with the world. How the […]
Happy celebration of the Day of Pentecost. What a glorious day to gather to worship and to celebrate the remembrance of the day the disciples recognized the Holy Spirit among them. In church we heard a recounting of the coming of the Holy Spirit to the 120 gathered and how the Holy Spirit helped the […]
Today we recognize our community and the place we inhabit in the life and faith of Suffolk, Virginia, and the world. Part of our life together today was filled with the definition of “imago dei” – the meaning of the phrase “made in the image of God.” In our worship today we heard lessons about […]
We begin to wind down our Easter journey with Jesus’ disciples and community following his resurrection before his ascension. God simply asks us to abide with God and Jesus by following their example. Our forebears weren’t ashamed to ask questions for clarification – look at Peter today “what prevents us from baptizing the members of […]
Scripture talked to us about abiding, loving, and being present for the bidding of God in community. We were reminded that God’s love doesn’t see boundaries nor does it fit our paradigm. We heard about God’s love being active, expansive, relational, and faithful; all of these, even when we don’t feel faithful, relational, expansive, or […]
We looked at the oddity of life: being human AND made in the image of God, called a child of God. We heard reflections of the fallibility of our human focus and the ability to either ignore or simply miss God’s interaction with us in community. While it seems odd to hear these stories just […]