Have you ever sat and watched the sunrise? The hints of purple… turning pink… and then neon orange as the sun peeks over the horizon. What a profound thing to realize that each morning, as we wait for the sun to rise in our sky, it has already risen for our neighbors to the east……
Kenotic Words
worship, sermons, lectionary
Thankful Giving
In our gospel reading this morning, we meet Zacchaeus, that “wee-little man”, who was really a terrible, awful person. As Carol Howard Merritt describes him: he was “a man who collected taxes from his own people and gave it to the Roman government. And if that wasn’t nasty enough, Zacchaeus skimmed money off the top.…
Saving and Investing
I stand up here today exhausted, and yet filled with joy and satisfaction. The past two days, I have been at Ankeny First with a few others from here at the church learning about how to be a better church for our members and our neighbors struggling with addiction, incarceration, mental illness, racism, life in…
Daily Bread
My friends and family play this game called “Would You Rather…” It sets up silly and sometimes serious scenarios and you have to decide which of the two you would rather do. It’s good for parties… it’s good for car rides… And it’s good for getting to really know someone. Would you rather live in…
J&MES: Blessing & Cursing
Our tongues are muscles – and the strongest muscle in our body at that. In fact – a man once lifted a 24 lb. 3oz weight using ONLY his tongue. But for being such a strong muscle, it is also extremely flexible. And, the tongues is the only muscle in our entire human body that…
J&MES: Mercy & Judgment
I love to play games. Board games, video games, card games… One of my favorite ways to spend time with family is to grab a deck of cards and play all evening long. Pinochle and 500 in particular. In both, there is some luck involved in the hand you are dealt, but also a lot…
J&MES: Preparation & Opportunity
We talk about preparation all the time. Am I prepared for retirement? Are we ready for school to start? Are the teams ready for the rivalry game? Or, the conversation around here lately… Are we prepared for Rally Day? We want to be like those who seem to be the most prepared and we…
J&MES: Faith & Action
This month in worship, we are going to be focusing on the book of James in the New Testament. It is all the way in the back of our bibles… just after Hebrews and right before a couple of shorter letters that lead into Revelation. This book is actually a letter written by James to…