Judas famously sold out Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. Judas was not the first person, and certainly was not the last person, to seen to prioritize money over a person. It is easy to mis-prioritize money. Money can become more important than God, if we’re not careful.
Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for March 31, 2019 for further thoughts. See you in worship at 10 AM this Sunday.
Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce
As Jesus is dying of the cross, there are those right there in front of him gambling for his clothes. Seems pretty cold, doesn't it? And yet, Jesus forgives them for this.
Are there other ways of gambling that don't call for forgiveness--in fact, may be just what Jesus would have us do
Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for March 24, 2019 for further thoughts. See you in worship at 10 AM this Sunday.
Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce
As Jesus was being led to his death, carrying his cross, the Scriptures tell us of the women who cried. Any why wouldn’t they? A sad, tragic, horrible thing was happening, and tears are an appropriate—and inevitable--expression of the emotions felt at a time like that.
We cry too, at any number of things. Tears connect us with deep feelings. Even Jesus cried.
Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for March 17, 2019 for further thoughts. See you in worship at 10 AM this Sunday.
Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce
Life is noisy. God seeks to speak in the midst of the noise, not just when it isn’t there—and yet without those intentional times of silence to process and sort it all out, we might not pick up on it.
And yet Lent is not only about getting away from the noise. It is about “Listening for God” even in the midst of the noise
Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for March 10, 2019 for further thoughts. See you in worship at 10 AM this Sunday as we have entered the season of Lent.
Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce
The sermon title "The Vision" addresses that having a vision means (at least) two things--what you see, and what that then compels you to do in living out that "vision". We'll explore what that means for our lives as disciples of Jesus.
Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for March 3, 2019 for further thoughts. See you in worship at 10 AM this Sunday. ALL are welcome as we celebrate Holy Communion.
Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce
One of the questions in the Bible Study this week wondered if Jesus changed the Scriptures that he learned, or merely interpreted them really differently—and the most obvious example is when he challenged the “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” guideline. He called into question whether we should live like that, even though the Scriptures he read said that we should. Hmm . . .
Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for February 24, 2019 for further thoughts. See you in worship at 10 AM this Sunday.
Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce
Did Jesus have crazy ideas? Did Jesus have crazy "suggestions" about how we are to live, and what we are to do?
Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for February 17, 2019 for further thoughts. See you in worship at 10 AM this Sunday, when we will celebrate the Baptism of Tristin Asher Brown.
Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce
In the passage from the Sermon on the Mount for this coming Sunday, Jesus risks inflating the egos of the people he's talking to. He tells them that they are the "salt of the earth" and the "light of the world". It would be easy to get all egotistical if someone tells you that--imagine if JESUS tells you that! So how do we believe that, but not get self-centered about it?
Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for February 10, 2019 for further thoughts. See you in worship at 10 AM this Sunday, when we will welcome three new members.
Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce
The Sermon on the Mount has been around for a couple of thousand years, and we still struggle to implement what Jesus teaches in it. The ethos he presents in Matthew 5:1-12, the Beatitudes, is so counter-intuitive to how we live, and how we've been taught to live. What a challenge to us as to how we follow Jesus!
Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for February 3, 2019 for further thoughts. See you in worship at 10 AM this Sunday. We will celebrate Holy Communion.
Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce
Since the weather caused us to cancel worship last Sunday, the planned order of worship, Scriptures, and sermon will happen this coming Sunday. Please follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for January 20, 2019 for thoughts on the sermon. And please follow the link for January 27, 2019 for further thoughts on the Special Offering we will receive for Human Relations Sunday (which was to have been last Sunday).
Human Relations Sunday falls right before the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, which raises a key point about human relations, and about how we need to understand and approach human relations. Two quotes leap to mind: "Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public" (Cornel West) and "True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice" (Martin Luther King, Jr.)--both of which affirm that human relations is not about everybody "behaving" but about everybody having value.
See you in worship at 10 AM this Sunday. We will receive a special offering for Human Relations Day.
Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce
Epiphany is about seeing. Sometimes we aren’t ready to see, it seems. The passage from John 1:29-42 reminds us that we need to be ready to see, or we might miss something important.
Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for January 20, 2019 for further thoughts. See you in worship at 10 AM this Sunday.
This is the season of Epiphany in the life of the church, where we are supposed to "see" stuff. This Sunday we recall Jesus being baptized by John (the Baptist), and in the story it says "He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him". What does that mean for us? And what are we seeing--or failing to see?
Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for January 13, 2019 for further thoughts. See you in worship at 10 AM this Sunday.
Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce
We wrap up the "Characters of Christmas" series this Sunday with the "wise men from the East"--who are different from all of the other "Characters of Christmas" in a whole lot of ways. Ways we need to think about in how we interact with others.
Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for January 6, 2019 for further thoughts. See you in worship at 10 AM this Sunday. We will celebrate Holy Communion and the Baptism of Harrison Robert Miskiel.
Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce
Our "Characters of Christmas" for the next two Sundays, with Christmas Eve in between, are the three that comprise "the Holy Family". Each has a story that is important for Christmas, obviously, and important for our own journey to and from Christmas.
Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for December23-30, 2018 for further thoughts. See you in worship at 10 AMon Sundays, and 5 PM and 7:30 PM on Christmas Eve.
Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce
We all have that extended family that we are reminded of as Christmas approaches, and who play a part in our own experience of Christmas. Jesus, too, had such a family, and they play a part in that first Christmas. Zechariah, the father of Jesus' relative John the Baptist, is one of those characters connected to the Christmas Story.
Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for December 9, 2018 for further thoughts. See you in worship at 10 AM this Sunday..
Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce
Each holiday has its symbols. For example, a Jack-o-Lantern—carved pumpkin—is used at Halloween, and likewise Christmas is replete with symbols, first and foremost a tree covered with ornaments called—not mysteriously—a Christmas tree. In the church, the time of preparation for Christmas, known as Advent, has symbols too.
This Sunday is the “Hanging of the Greens” when we not only decorate for Advent and Christmas, but also dedicate those symbols and remind ourselves what they mean and why we use them. WE begin with breakfast, starting at 8:30 AM, then together decorate the Sanctuary and Welcome Center.
Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for November 25, 2018 for further thoughts. See you in worship at 11 AM (note changed time!) this Sunday. We will celebrate Holy Communion.
Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce
We are at that weird time of the year when it’s no longer Thanksgiving, but not yet December—and in the “church calendar” it’s the end of a year and not yet the start of a new one. So in looking at Christ the King, we’ll also look at the various kings associated with the Christmas story.
Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for November 25, 2018 for further thoughts. See you in worship at 10 AM this Sunday. And Happy Thanksgiving!
Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce
When we live trusting in God, good stuff can happen. People for generations can attest to this. We will look at that Sunday, as we continue in our Stewardship series, and give thanks.
Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for November 18, 2018 for further thoughts. See you in worship at 10 AM this Sunday.
Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce
Ebenezer Scrooge’s motivation in Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol” was to hang on to everything he had, which might seem like a good plan. But it made him miserable, and it made everybody in his orbit miserable. Is there an alternative to miserliness that is better? Is there a better attitude to live life with?
Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for November 4, 2018 for further thoughts. See you in worship at 10 AM this Sunday.
Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce