Epiphany 4A  Matthew 5:1-12

Last week in our gospel story we were at the seaside. We heard the story of Jesus calling to Peter, Andrew, James and John to be his followers. He just showed up at their place of business one day and said: Come follow me and I will make you fish for people. And follow they did. Even though it seems like just the other day we were taking about baby Jesus, asleep on the hay away in a manger, now we see him as an adult. Jesus’ ministry as an adult, as a rabbi, is just beginning and if he had a car in which to drive around the dusty roads of the holy land, it would have had one bumpersticker: Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven Has Come Near!

Repent, Metanoia, turn around.  Turn around and see!! The kingdom of heaven is standing right in…

Celebration

 “Simply be open and allow yourself to be held in the shelter of God. …Do not doubt your own spiritual experience.”    ~Joyce Rupp

The past few weeks we have had a visit from a foster parent telling his family’s story, and talked about the challenges occurring in our area from wildfires to public discourse. There have been heavy discussions and we can all get weighed down by the cares of the world. As a result, we decided to spend some time talking about filling our cup…or renewing our spirits.

Joyce Rupp says the main purpose of the cup is to have its contents given away. But what if the main purpose of the cup is to hold content? Truthfully, it’s a little of both isn’t it? The problem is always about learning to find balance in our lives. In our discussion group we began to…

Advent 2A December 4 2016

A few years ago, I had the privilege of spending the time after Thanksgiving and just before the beginning of Advent with some friends of mine on their family’s farm in Dushor, PA. This was not just any farm, either. It was a Christmas tree farm! That was quite a magical and memorable way to begin this season that can be so overwhelming and draining.

It seems that as soon as December hits, we are preparing for parties that we might end up too tired to enjoy, stressing over finding the right gifts, and fretting over family discord that might or might not ever show its ugly head. We can sometimes exhaust ourselves with travel, too. And this is not to mention the regular commitments we all have in our live.  By the time we get to Christmas, we might be ready to sing Joy…

Our church believes in prayer and as we work together, it becomes clear that we also want to support each other and those who live outside of the church. To be a witness to others, what does it mean? How can we learn to be a witness in our daily lives even if sometime we are physically limited? These are some of the questions we are asking in our class.

When we share the bread and the wine, it is our belief as Lutherans that the bread and the wine empower us and strengthen us to go out into the world, our daily jobs, our homes, and

our neighborhoods and live a life worthy of Christ’s calling.  When we study the spiritual disciplines, we are studying the ways that we can continue to serve even when it hard and even when the way WE understand serving Christ may be different.