Today we are kicking off a new sermon series: Holy Habits: 5 Habits for Spiritual Growth. At the start of every year, I have it in mind to remind us of our mission and vision as a church. Last year, we did a series called “Every” where we dived into 8 statements that reflect our…
How do you respond to receiving gifts? My 3-year-old Daisy is at the age where she is learning how to respond to receiving gifts. After sending so many gifts to our house, of course Daisy’s grandparents wanted to know what she thought of the gifts she had been given. So over zoom and Facetime we…
I remember many Christmases where Jesus is not all I wanted. I would make a Christmas wish list for my parents. Having a December birthday often worked in my favor. Because I learned to haggle. So ma, I’d like to ask for something that can count for both my birthday AND Christmas this year. You…
Today as we continue our sermon series All I Want for Christmas is Jesus we are discussing the third week of Advent’s Theme: Joy We got a closet full of Christmas presents, many of which still need to be wrapped. Many are a toys for Daisy. We know how with great JOY she is going…
“A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.” I am a huge LOTR nerd. I have read through the four books (hobbit and 3 LOTR) ten times over. I scoff at the casual fans who watch the cinema cuts instead of the FAR superior two disc extended…
Today is the First Sunday in Advent. It’s the first Sunday of the Church’s year. It’s the season where we prepare spiritually for celebrating the coming of the Jesus at Christmas. In the spirit of Advent, the title for our sermon series is “All I Want for Christmas is Jesus.” In a season of so…
My 3-year-old Daisy and her good friend Lynn play together constantly. Sometimes it’s funny to listen to the disagreements they get into. Just the other day they were playing together, and Daisy wanted to pretend it was imaginary nap time. Lynn, on the other hand, didn’t want to play that game and instead wanted to…
How do we stay anchored when presidents change? When we don’t even know who the president is? How do we stay anchored when we feel the person that gets elected is going to end life as we know it? The Apostle Paul wrote to a community of Christians in Rome. At the heart of the…
One thing that has become increasingly turbulent in our day is increasing polarization and antagonisms. There is a feeling that we have to take sides and if you don’t take the right side, watch out, you are the enemy. One of my seminary professors David Fitch, calls this the Enemy-Making Machine. What happens is people…
We are living in turbulent times. We know it. We feel it. We’re in it and we’ve been in it for months. What do we do when the waves keep coming? When everything in life gets turned upside down, it’s a good time to evaluate. How strong is your foundation? What are you doing to…