Just Be
Link to Service Welcome: “Jesus had a rich prayer life. Whether it was public prayers and blessings or private prayers on the mountain or in the garden, praying was an important part of his ministry and life. Sometimes prayer can be a bit abstract for us. We may not be sure about how best to […]
Where is the Spirit?
Link to Service How many of you enjoy celebrating your birthday these days? I think we can all appreciate what a privilege it is to continue to have birthdays to celebrate. We can complain about our lack of sleep (me!) or aches and pains, but we do realize how very lucky we are. Birthdays […]
Mother’s Day
Link to Service Most, if not all of us, have been raised in churches that spoke exclusively about God as father. This is the language that has been passed to us through from centuries of tradition that named God in this way. While Jesus taught us to pray to God as father, we remember that […]
Reflections on Joy
Link to Service The Easter Season is meant to be a joyful time for us as Christians and springtime also brings many joys to be savored that echo the beauty of new life as we watch the play of colors begin to emerge in our gardens and flowering trees as well as listen to […]
Let My Love Open the Door
Link to Service Today, our readings evoke the beautiful imagery of the Good Shepherd, both through our Call to Worship which echoes the language of Psalm 23 and from our reading in the passage from 1 John. We know that this idea of a Good Shepherd was one that would have truly resonated with […]
The Emmaus Moment
Link to Service Luke 24:13-35 We Had Hoped… “And their eyes were opened and they recognized him in the breaking of the bread.” Luke’s reading today is a favorite among the Resurrection Stories of Jesus. There were about ten encounters with Jesus after the Resurrection. Of course, they became important over time to believers. […]
Easter Morning
Link to Service There is an historic village in Salem, North Carolina. Every Easter morning, in the early hours of this day, thousands of people, many of them tourists who have come especially for this event, make their way towards the courtyard in front of a 200-year-old church, founded by the Moravians, one of the […]
Judge not, Lest…
Link to Service John 8:2-112 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to […]
Let Them Come to Me
Link to Service I have been thinking a lot about this passage from Matthew in recent weeks. Even though it is a simple passage, I think it invites us to think about what Jesus was trying to teach in that moment and scholars emphasize two essential ideas. The first is that no one, not […]
Has Everyone Been Fed?
Link to Service As Jesus and his disciples head to a deserted place, perhaps seeking peace and quiet, many from the surrounding towns follow them and instead of turning them away, Jesus expresses compassion and begins to offer some wisdom to those who have gathered. As the day unfolds, some of his disciples begin to […]