In Grace: Archive

Bearing Fruit

Weekly Text Acts 8:26-40 1 John 4:7-21 John 15:1-8 Can fruit blossom independent from the tree? Can we live independent of the source of life? All we do and all we are comes from the tree not from us.

May 4th

Bearing Fruit

May 4th

The Good Shepherd

Weekly Text Acts 4:5-12 1 John 3: 16-24 John 10: 11-18 The shepherd gives his life to those he serves. Who would we give our life for? How do we live as servants of God?

Apr 19th

Won't You Let Me Be Your Servant

Holy Week The Passion Story from Mark Mark 14:1-15:1-39 Let us contemplate during this Holy week how we can live our lives as the servants God created us to be.

Mar 30th

"I am Yours and You are Mine"

Weekly Text Jeremiah 31: 31-34 Hebrews 5: 5-10 John 12: 20-33 Our text in Jeremiah proclaims that God will put his laws within our hearts. He states, “I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” This begins a new relationship with God for us. For now we are not distant followers, but rather in personal relationship with our Creator.

Mar 23rd

Servant Leadership

Weekly Text Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 Romans 4:13-25 Mark 8:31-38 Jesus reframed the word leader to mean a servant for all. In what way does this change how you see leadership? How would our world change if all leaders saw themselves as servants instead of those who should be served?

Mar 1st

Transformation

Weekly Text 2 Kings 2:1-12 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 Mark 9:2-9 Fire, explosions, parting seas, what transforms you? How can you recieve double the spirit of Elijah? What will change your life?

Feb 17th

Transformation

Feb 17th

Outcast

Weekly Text 2 Kings 5:1-14 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 Mark 1:40-45 Have you ever been left out? Who do you ignore? Healing is being made whole through relationship.

Feb 10th

Missed Miracles

Weekly Text Isaiah 40:21-31 1 Corinthians 9:16-23 Mark 1:29-39 If we looked at our world with the yes of a curious child would we see the God? If we stopped expecting miracles would we see the mystery unfold in front of us. Are we missing the point?

Feb 3rd

Turning the ordinary into extrodinary

Weekly Text Jonah 3:1-5, 10 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 Mark 1:14-20 Jesus transformed fishermen into disciples. How can answering God’s call transform you?

Jan 20th

Cleansing

Weekly Text Genesis1:1-5 Acts 19:1-7 Mark 1:4-11 Are we living our Baptism? Have we embraced our heritage in God’s family? So we live and share this good news?

Jan 6th

Seeing God

Weekly Text Isaiah 61:10-62:3 Galatians 4:4-7 Luke 2:22-40 God is revealed in the ordinary circumstances of our worship and our life. Why are we always looking for more? Can we find god in the silence and solitude?

Dec 30th

The Infinite Gift

Weekly Text Isaiah 52:7-10 Hebrew 1:1-12 John 1:1-14 What gift can we give that lasts forever? Can God’s gift only last as long as it is given? What is our response to God’s gift? A Blessed Christmas to all!

Dec 24th

Who Are We?

Weekly Text Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 John 1:6-8, 19-28 Who are we? Are we witnesses to the love of Christ? Are we willing as John was to go out in the wilderness and preach the good news?

Dec 9th

Prepare a Way for the Lord

Weekly Text Isaiah 40:1-11 2 Peter 3:8-15a Mark 1:1-8 What barriers have we constructed that keep God from our hearts? Are we still looking at life with wonder and mystery? Are we looking with excitement for God? Is our path filled with the illusion that we have all the answers?

Dec 2nd

Giving Thanks

Weekly Text Deuteronomy 8:7-18 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 Luke 17:11-19 Let us give thanks for God, our country, freedom, family and friends and all the possibilities we are given. Amen

Nov 18th

Let Your Light Shine

Weekly Text Judges 4:1-7 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 Matthew 25:14-30 In his inaugural speech Nelson Mandela states, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us……Our playing small doesn’t serve the world. Jesus reminds us in the gospel this week that God...

Nov 11th

Choose

Weekly Text Joshua 24:1-3, 14-25 I Thessalonians 4:13-18 Matthew 25:1-13 Choose, choose, choose to fight or run to study or play to be faithful or promiscuous to obey or rebel to yeild or resist to create or destroy to repent or deny to forgive or resent to save or spend to take risks or be cautious to dream to trust Who will I trust? Who will I serve? Who will I please? The...

Nov 4th

Oct 28th

Do As I Do

Weekly Text Joshua 3:7-17 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13 Matthew 23:1-12 Ram Das says “Be a soul not a role.” Are we living Chrisianity like a role in a play? Or are we wrestling and streching ourselves to be more Christ like? Does living our faith require us to be a servant to all people?

Oct 28th

There's No Place Like Home

Weekly Text Deuteronomy 34: 1-12 Psalm 90: 1-6, 13-17 1 Thessalonians 2: 1-8 Matthew 22: 34-46 You awake us to delight in your praises; for you made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You. St. Augustine Do we all long for that sweet space beyond ourselves that we call home? A place with out judgment or blame a place where we fit. At home in the...

Oct 20th

Stamped in the Image of God?

Weekly Text Exodus 33: 12-23 1 Thessalonians 1: 1-10 Matthew 22: 15-22 Are we stamped in the image of God or in the image of the American Dream? Where is our loyality to things of the soul or the things? Where is the balance?

Oct 14th

Stamped In the Image of God?

Oct 14th

You're Invited

Weekly Text Exodus 32:1-14 Philippians 4:1-9 Matthew 22:1-14 The table is prepared, the feast is ready. God’s abundance is spread out for each of us, but no one comes. Are we ready to become a new creation? Are we prepared to take on the responsibility of sitting at God’s table? Change Wait for me, Lord: I’m coming! Wait for me, Lord: I’m getting dressed! I am...

Oct 7th

Being Authentic

Exodus 17:1-7 Philippians 2:1-13 Matthew 21:23-32 All of nature is authentic from the fish in this pond to the foilage and water falling into the pond. Non of these species has a need to buy anything or do more than they are capable of doing. Why o we feel we must be better than we are? Why do we try to imporve ourselves with artificial purchases? Is Jesus asking us to be authentic?

Sep 23rd

Entitlement

Weekly Text Exodus 16:2-15 Philippians 1:21-30 Matthew 20:1-16 The story Jesus tells us this week reminds me of the false sense of entitlement we have in this country. Why do we feel we deserve anything? Is not everything we see, hear and do a gift from God. Do we use our talents for money or to serve God? Therefore do we have the right to tell God what is just and what isn’t?

Sep 15th

Watch

Peace is the gift of forgiveness Weekly Text Exodus 15:1-11, 20-21 Romans 14: 1-12 Matthew 18: 21-35 During the anniversary of the attack on the twin towers in New York I invite us to think about forgiveness. Can we let go and start working toward peace again? Does hanging on to our pain and resentment serve our need for peace? What image can we use to help us overcome our pain?

Sep 8th

I AM

Weekly Text Exodus 3:1-15 Romans 12:9-21 Matthew 16: 21-28 אֶהְיֶה (eheyeh), as in: אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה (exodus 3:14) “Eheyeh asher eheyeh” (e-he-yEh a-shEr e-he-yEh) This verb is actually in its future tense, so literally, it means: I will be whatever I will be. But the main idea is “it doesn’t matter who I am”. Source(s): Hebrew speakerWhy do we want to...

Aug 29th

Aug 12th

"I Am Who I Am"

Weekly Text Genesis 37:1-4,12-28 Romans 10:5-15 Matthew 14: 22-33 Give me to be in Your presence, God, even though I know it only as absence. May Sarton Would we have fears, doubts and uncertainty if we lived aware of the presence of God in each moment? How do we turn our feelings of...

Aug 5th

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A Little Faith Goes A Long Way

Weekly Text Genesis 29: 15-28 Romans 8: 26-39 Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52 Faith heals, Faith brings hope, and Faith makes the impossible possible. What feeds our faith? Do we have the faith of a little mustard seed? Do we believe that we can do anything with a little faith in God?

Jul 22nd

Wrestling With God

Weekly Text Genesis 28:10-19a Romans 8:12-25 Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 “May we realize that God’s Blessing upon us - that for which we have wrestled, some of us for so long and so fiercely - is that we be empowered to welcome and bless those who, like Jacob, indeed, like most of us, do not deserve to be blessed.” Carter Heyward Why is it so hard to accept God’s...

Jul 15th

Watering Dirt

Genesis 25:19-34 Romans 8:1-11 Matthew 13:1-9,18-23 This week’s text reminds me of a poem my dear friend Rebecca Braden Nordeman wrote titled “Watering Dirt” The whole poem is a bit long to post her, if you would like to read it in its entirety send me your e-mail address and I will forward it to you. She talks about planting her garden and her worries over the wet and...

Jul 8th

I Will Give You Rest

Weekly Text Genesis 24:34-38,42-49,58-67 Romans 7:15-25a Matthew11:16-19,25-30 One of my favorite invitation from God is this request from Jesus to come. Just come, when you are weary, overwhelmed, frustrated, scared, come and take rest. Why do we get so stubborn and independent? What gives us the false illusion that we can go this journey alone? What are we trying to prove? What stops...

Jul 1st

Trust

Weekly Text Genesis 22:1-14 Romans 6:12-23 Matthew 10:40-42 Trust SAVES ME I trust the night I trust the stars that shine I trust the moon I know its love’s divine I trust the wind I trust its winding ways I trust the sky I know its separate days I trust the dawn I trust its rising light I trust the sun I know its blinding sight I trust the clouds I trust the crimson waves I trust the...

Jun 24th

All Things Great and Small

Weekly Text Genesis 1:1-2:4a 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 http://www.biblegateway.com/ How can I think that one religion could own this perfect and infinite Being? How can I live my life in praise of the Beloved? Can I start with humility as I imagine the vast space from a blade of grass to universes? Truly, how awesome is God? See Video Below

Jun 17th

Eternal Life Moment by Moment

Weekly Text Acts 1: 6-14 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5: 6-11 John 17: 1-11 Does thinking in terms of the possilbe as we experience the impossble keep us from thinking in new ways? Are we always preparing for eventualities instead of experiencing the infinate possibilities of the moment? Are we living eternity now or waiting for it? What does it mean to live our belief in eternity?

Jun 4th

Spiritual Connection

Weekly Text Acts 17: 22-31 Psalm 66:8-20 John 14: 15-21 Can we live and love as Christ did? Can we connect to the spirit that Christ gave us to live as he did? Can we learn to dance with God as Christ does?

May 27th

How Great Is Our God

Weekly Text Acts 7:55-60 1 Peter 2:2-10 John 14:1-14 In our text this week Jesus says in my Father’s house are many dwelling places. How can I comprehend that the same God who created the universe made me. Is my understanding of this awesome Being too small? Do I shrink God down? How can I learn to focus on God’s immeasurable greatness each and everyday? Am I willing to live...

May 19th

God is Love

Weekly Text Acts 8: 26-40 1 John 4: 7-21 John 15: 1-8 Is the One we seek Love? It is not possible to stuff this emense Being into an image or concept, therefore is the Beloved a verb? Is God a force that connects, respects, joins, creates and celebrates life? Is Love they way to God?

May 13th

Breaking Bread

Weekly Text Acts 2:14a, 36-41 Psalm 116: 1-4, 12-19 Luke 24: 13-35 Plenty Having shared our bread, we know that we are no longer hungry. It is enough that you see me for myself. That I see you for yourself. That we bless what we see and do not borrow, do not use one another. This is how we know we are no longer hungry…that the world is full of terror, full of beauty and yet...

May 6th

Is seeing believing?

This weeks text: Psalm 16 1 Peter 1: 3-9 John 20:19-31 Is seeing believing? What can you prove just by looking? Have we become so seduced by information that we can no longer believe in something beyond logic? Where do my doubts interfere with my growth? Am I willing to risk? Are my doubts actually seeds of a new spirituality?

May 2nd

We are Easter people.

We are Easter people, a people of the resurrection, a people of eternal hope and infinite possibilities. The Easter story calls us to look at challenges as ways of transformation and change. All of nature teaches us that growth can be painful as new life bursts from old ways. Where do we need transforming? Are we willing to walk in difficult circumstances with the faith and trust that they...

Apr 25th

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Does Our Faith Easily Sway With the Wind?

Weekly Text Isaiah 50:4-9a Philippians 2:5-11 Matthew 21: 1-11 Palm branches remind me of sea breezes. They are light and airy. They bend and move easily with the wind. This is a great symbol for our relationship with God. One week we are praising this immense power and the next week we are screaming crucify. The passion story reveals clearly the relationship between the Divine and humans. ...

Apr 15th

How can we add breath to these bones?

This week we read two stories about resurrection. Ezekiel discovers that he has been led to a place where he sees nothing but dead bones. Jesus is asked to raise Lazarus from the dead. Spiritually these stories proclaim that life and death are the hands of God. I wonder if we might want to explore this deeper, especially in these uncertain times. What does it take to resurrect our...

Apr 8th

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Mar 30th

1 note