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 […]
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 […]