The Nature of A Friend - April 30, 2017

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1 Samuel 18:1-16

David and Jonathan have one of the most prominent friendships in the Bible. In fact, we don't often hear about friends in the Bible so the few we do learn about become even more important. David and Jonathan set the bar high.

For a bit of backstory, our story picks up just after David, the shepherd boy, kills Goliath, the giant Philistine. Saul is the king of Israel. His oldest son is Jonathan. After David killed Goliath, he had to go to king Saul and tell him what had happened. Jonathan had the privilege of listening in. And afterward, as today's scripture says, Jonathan was impressed and became

Read more: The Nature of A Friend - April 30, 2017

Marriage and Messiness - April 23, 2017

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Romans 12:9-12
1 Corinthians 13: 4-8

Don't those passages just give you the warm fuzzies? I've done a fair number of weddings over the years and 1 Corinthians 13 is always pretty popular. It's sweet and charming and all the things love should be: patient, kind, generous, persevering, hopeful, and never-ending. It's a good passage to read and to hear when love is in the air. But, it can be a little bit annoying if you're in the middle of a fight or you've just been upset or let down by your significant other. When you're ready to slam doors, or walk away, or dump the dirty clothes all over their side of the floor you don't want to hear about how love isn't

Read more: Marriage and Messiness - April 23, 2017

Have You Gone Looking - April 16, 2017

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John 20:1-16

How many of you came to church ready to celebrate?! (raise hand) All of us! Right? That's why Easter is such an awesome day to worship...it's all good news! for us...but what about originally? This day didn't start out bright and shiny. It was dark and scary and sorrowful. The disciples were hulled up in the upper room, scarred for their lives, full of sadness that Jesus was gone, bitterness and resentment that he didn't do what they thought he would, and remorse and guilt that they hadn't been better to him at the end. It started out as an awful day...another day in the haze of grief where it still hardly feels real. That's where the disciples started, so that's where we will start our story

Read more: Have You Gone Looking - April 16, 2017

I Believe In the Life Everlasting - April 2, 2017

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Luke 24:36-49

It's a little early to be talking about the resurrection....at least in terms of Lent and Palm Sunday and Easter. And yet, I don't think any of us need a spoiler alert...We know Jesus rises from the dead. That's why we can handle the betrayal of Maundy Thursday and the suffering of Good Friday...because we know that's not the end of the story. There's Easter. There's always Easter. There is always the hope and the promise that good things have the final say, not the bad things.

Some of us try to rush through the stories of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.

Read more: I Believe In the Life Everlasting - April 2, 2017

I Believe in the Church - March 26, 2017

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Ephesians 2:11-22

We are working our way through the Apostle's Creed and today we are focusing on the line that says, "I believe in the holy catholic church and the communion of saints."

In essence, that whole phrase is what it means to be the church together. Let's start with where most people get hung up, the word catholic. Lots of people read that and say, "I'm not pledging allegiance to the Catholic church." Let me clarify, the fact that "catholic" is not capitalized means we're talking about the universal global church, not the Roman

Read more: I Believe in the Church - March 26, 2017