About ten years ago, I was living in Nashville and was in the middle of my seminary journey. I was overwhelmed by studying and coursework and I was working full time at a local church as a part of an internship. I was burning the candle at both ends and learning a lot… but I…
Kenotic Words
worship, sermons, lectionary
Momentum for Life: Vision for Immanuel
God spoke: Write this! Write what you see! Write it out in big block letters so it can be read on the run! And when God gives a vision aids our momentum. It paints a picture of the future that drives us forward because we can’t wait to get there. God’s vision aches for…
Tables and Holy Experiences
I have a sense of my first Maundy Thursday service, but I can’t quite place where it falls in my history. I was not a child, but not yet fully grown. Perhaps it was high school, or maybe somewhere in my college years. I have a sense of a fellowship area, a place not just…
Momentum for Life: Who is your Elisha?
This morning, we continue to explore what DRIVES us… the momentum that Christ is trying to build in our life to help us keep following him. Today, our focus is on how we INVEST IN RELATIONSHIPS. How are we reaching out and building up those who will be the leaders of the future? How…
Momentum for Life: God Loves You Too Much To Let You Stay There
God loves you just the way you are… and loves you too much to let you stay there. Those words I heard from Anne Lamott in a lecture she gave at my seminary. God loves you just the way you are… and loves you too much to let you stay there. I…
Inward, Outward, Upward
Since the first Sunday in November, we’ve been talking about the “Already” and the “Not Yet.” We’ve been waiting for the day, for the moment to arrive, when Christ is born again in our hearts and minds and lives. But it is a kind of paradoxical waiting, because God has already entered human history through…
Hopes and Fears
Awaiting the Already. As church, we are exploring this book, written by a pastor who served here in Iowa. And he invites us to look at the Christmas story through new lenses. Over four weeks, we pull apart each gospel: Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John, and explore what they have to tell us about how…
Untitled
It was a Monday afternoon, in Marengo, and a young woman walked into the church and asked to use the telephone. Not a problem, I said. And while she sat in the office dialing numbers and getting no response, I sat at my desk trying to pick out hymns for worship the next Sunday. Are…