Text: Luke 1:5-17 (the birth of John the Baptist foretold) * Video of complete service * Order of service (PDF) Hope is essential. And so, it makes sense to me that the church focuses on Hope on the first of the four Sundays in Advent and at the start of a new church year. But hope can also elude … [Read more…]
Texts: “Light in the Rocks” by Steve Garnaas-Holmes * Revelation 21:1-6a (“a new heaven and earth”) * Video of entire service * Order of service (PDF) Greetings to everyone this Allhallowtide! Allhallowtide is a three-day celebration of the departed, which the Roman church has been marking since at least the seventh century. It incorporates pre-Christian traditions like Samhain, … [Read more…]
Text: Mark 4:35-41 (Jesus calms a storm)Video of the complete service * Order of service (PDF) This past Tuesday, as has been the case on most Tuesdays over the past 17 months, I joined an hour-long Zoom gathering of United Church ministers. These weekly gatherings have been one of the silver linings to the pandemic. Through them, … [Read more…]
Text: Mark 4:1-9 (the parable of the sower) * Video of complete service * Order of service (PDF) Ten years ago this week on my first Sunday as an ordained minister, I was happy the assigned Gospel reading was the parable of the sower. It seemed like a good text with which to start ministry in Borderlands — a … [Read more…]
Text: Matthew 5:43-44 (“love your enemies”) Video of the complete service Jesus says we should love our enemies. So, I suppose this means I should love the U.S. President. As you may have noticed over the last four years, I’m not a fan. Nor is it just President Trump. More than 70 million Americans voted … [Read more…]
Text: Mark 8:27-35 (“take up your cross”) Truths that we find difficult to accept are also ones that can open us to healing and love. This is a message I take from our Gospel reading this morning. Jesus tells his friends the honest truth. Even though they see him as heir to King David and … [Read more…]
Text: Luke 2:41-52 (Jesus as a youth in the Temple) The four gospels tell us little about the childhood of Jesus. Mark, which was written first, starts with Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan and covers just the few months from that event to his crucifixion in Jerusalem at Passover. Matthew, the next one written, … [Read more…]