Luke 12:32-40 “From Fear to Faith” The movement in the gospel lesson today is from fear to faith, from inaction to action. Luke begins by telling us that Jesus calls his followers “little flock.” This was not a megachurch. He is using the diminutive case. Take a look around. This is a little flock. I… Read more Worship Reflection Sunday, August 8, 2022
Luke 12:13-21 The Gift of Wisdom Marcus Borg wrote in, Reading the Bible Again for the First Time: “Controversy about the Bible is the single most divisive issue among Christians in North America today” (Reading the Bible Again for the First Time, HarperSanFrancisco, 2001). That statement is more true today than it was when he wrote… Read more Worship Reflection Sunday, July 31, 2022
Luke 10:25-37 Jim Crow, Jane Crow, and Love I want to focus on just one sentence in this well-known story of the lawyer’s question and Jesus’ telling the parable of the good Samaritan. Who is my neighbor? That may be the most important question we have today. Who is my neighbor? Michelle Alexander writes in… Read more Worship Reflection Sunday, July 10, 2022
Matthew 4: 18-24 Becoming When I was in grade school, I can remember practicing Civil Defense drills. Can any of you remember those days? Our teacher would tell us to get out of our chairs and crawl under our desks. This was how we were being taught to protect ourselves in case of a nuclear… Read more Worship Reflection, Sunday, July 3, 2022
Luke 8: 26-39 Living in a Haunted House This is the first in what I hope will become a summer series of dialogue sermons. We often have the mistaken idea that the New Testament gospels are biographies of Jesus. It’s like Jesus had traveling secretaries with him who kept contemporaneous records of what he did… Read more Worship Reflection Sunday June 19, 2022
June 15, 2022 Sunday, June 19, is Juneteenth, also known as Jubilee Day. This day commemorates the emancipation of Black people in Texas on June 19, 1865, The Thirteenth Amendment was ratified on December 6, 1865, ending the debate over, whether or not, slavery was legal in the United States. Last Sunday many of us… Read more Minister’s Notebook
Acts 16:9-10 The Scattered Church Last week was Pentecost Sunday and I shared that I think we are in a Pentecost season for Pine Valley. This was a time when the first Christians were figuring out what it meant to follow in the way of Jesus after Jesus was gone. What kind of community were… Read more Worship Reflection Sunday, June 12, 2022
John 14:8-17 Do as I have commanded: love one another This is Pentecost Sunday. The story of Pentecost is told in the book of Acts. There we read that people from many walks of life gathered in one room and it was suddenly filled with a mighty wind and people saw tongues of fire. It’s… Read more Worship Refection Sunday, May 29, 2022
“Stones Cry Out” Luke 19:28-40 During our pandemic, many of you know my kids stayed home for almost as long as we had the doors closed to our building. Aedan did school online, and we undertook a project for his first-grade class at Earhart – a collection project. Aedan chose rocks and our backyard… Read more Worship Reflection Sunday, April 10, 2022
God’s Transitional Journey Natalie Tos-Byington Connie Dietz The Beginning Connie: It is Christmas Day, December 25, 2017. Like previous Christmas Days we had gathered to celebrate. Minna and her family, Aaron and his family were all at our home. We began the day with breakfast followed by opening of gifts, playing of games and generally… Read more Worship Reflection Sunday, April 3, 2022