The emotional roller coaster is familiar to us.  Just when it seems everything is going great, all of a sudden something horrible happens. We have felt that we are blessed; then the blessings evaporate in a second.  How do we cope?  How does our faith help when it seems like God is against us?

The experiences of the Old Testament prophet Elijah have some insights for us.

Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for June 23, 2019 for further thoughts. Come worship at 10 AM this Sunday!

                                                               Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce

The Christian faith understands God as a “Trinity”. We speak of God in three persons.  Creator, redeemer, sustainer. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. It’s kind of complicated.  But what in our lives isn’t complicated?  All of our relationships are—and individual people can at the same time be a parent, a son/daughter, a sibling, the same individual but in different relationships.  Much as God is three “persons”.

Like I said, it’s complicated.

Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for June 16, 2019 for further thoughts. Come worship at 10 AM this Trinity Sunday!

                                                              Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce

Like a graduation, Pentecost is the completion of something, and an acknowledgment of something. Also like a graduation, it is the beginning of something new, which draws on the learning that has been happening.  We’ll explore these realities this coming Sunday.

Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for June 9, 2019 for further thoughts. Come worship at 10 AM this coming Sunday! We will be celebrating Holy Communion.

                                                               Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce

Context matters. Sometimes someone will say something confusing, and then later, after some other stuff has happened, we understand it. 

Jesus does this at the Last Supper in John’s version—he says some really confusing stuff, and tells them that later, they’ll “get it”.  He also promises that the Holy Spirit will help them “get it”.

We can “get it” too.  And we should want to “get it”!

Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for May 26, 2019 for further thoughts. Come worship at 10 AM this coming Sunday!

                                                              Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce

Is it possible that an energetic walk can help you figure some stuff out that has been confusing you? 

Rev. Amy Wagner will preach at McKnight this Sunday, May 19, and her sermon is titled "Solved by Walking”. It is based on the walk from Jerusalem to Jericho (and as it turns out, back to Jerusalem) from Luke 24:13-35.

Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for May 19, 2019 for further thoughts. Come worship at 10 AM this coming Sunday!

                                                              Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce

When you know someone well, you recognize that person's voice even if you don't see him/her.  I can even recognize what my wife Susan's sneeze sounds like! Jesus, in calling himself the Good Shepherd, says that his sheep know his voice.  That image is the title for the Rev. Dr. Don Scandrol's sermon this coming Sunday, "The Voice of the Shepherd". Don will make use of Psalm 23, Revelation 7:9-17, and John 10:22-30.

Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for May 12, 2019 for further thoughts. Come worship at 10 AM this coming Sunday!

                                                                Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce

Jesus is risen!  Now what?  That was the question for his disciples, and that is the question for us.

Rev. Barry L. Lewis will preach at McKnight this Sunday, May 5, and Holy Communion will be celebrated. His sermon asks that very question, “Now What?” from John 21:1-19.

Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for May 5, 2019 for further thoughts. Come worship at 10 AM this coming Sunday!

                                                               Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce

Barring unexpected things, it looks like Millvale United Methodist will merge with McKnight as of July 1 this year (official action still to be taken).  In the spirit of the merger, this Sunday Rev. Diane Randolph of Millvale will preach at McKnight, and Pastor Bruce will preach at Millvale.  Diane’s sermon will be “Come to Believe” from John 20:24-31.

Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for April 28, 2019 for Diane’s biography. Come worship with her at 10 AM this coming Sunday!

                                                              Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce

The Bible has four versions of this adventurous week leading to Jesus being executed and raised to new life. I encourage you to pick one and read it, so that Easter is that much more powerful: Matthew 21-28, Mark11-16, Luke 19-24, John 12-21. (Feel free to read all four if you choose!) And attend as many of the three Holy Week and Easter services as you can, to engage even more fully with this story that shapes and explains human existence. 

Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for Holy Week and Easter for further thoughts.  See you in worship at 7 PM on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, and 10 AM on Easter Sunday.

                                                              Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce

The world we live in is not quiet.  And plenty of times there is shouting, and cheering, and jeering, and we have to listen closely to know just what it means. And the difference in those sounds between Sunday and Thursday of the last week of Jesus’ life are a pretty important difference to pick up on.

Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for April 14, 2019 for further thoughts.  See you in worship at 10 AM this Sunday.

                                                              Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce

Rain on the roof. A stream flowing by. Washing our hands, or our clothes. We hear water splash, and sometimes it just is--and sometimes it has significant meaning. We'll look at that.

Follow this link to the Pastor’s Ponderings for April 7, 2019 for further thoughts.  See you in worship at 10 AM this Sunday. We will celebrate Holy Communion.

                                                              Grace and Peace, Pastor Bruce

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