Text: Matthew 22:1-14; Isaiah 25:1-10 So, all month long in our daily devotions we are focusing on where the Kingdom of Heaven shows up in the gospel of Matthew. What we discover is an awful lot about how we should live right here and right now. The Sermon on the Mount is filled with ethical…
To Whom does the Kingdom Belong?
Text: Matthew 5:1-12 A month or so, one of you asked me a pretty simple and yet very difficult question: Why don’t we talk more about heaven? One reason is there is simply a lot we don’t know about the life that awaits us. We have a lot of metaphor and imagery in our scripture…
Rejoice With Me!
Text: Psalm 98: 7-9, Luke 15:3-6, 8-9, 11-13, 20, 24, 28, 31 Every year, our congregation has a charge conference. It is our annual meeting to elect leadership, set goals for the future, care for those called into ministry, and more. And it’s happening in just one week! Next Sunday, November 1, we will have…
Symphony of Creation
Text: Psalm 98:4-6, Genesis 1-2, selected verses Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; Break forth into joyous song and sing praises. Can you hear the earth, the planet, the creation beneath and around us is bursting forth in song? Do you hear the praise in the rustle of the wind in…
Singing in the Valley
Text: Psalm 23 and Psalm 98:1-3 In May of this year, my family gathered in northwest Iowa to bury my grandpa. I stood in front of those loved ones and recited those familiar words of the twenty-third Psalm. The Lord is my shepherd… You know, we imagined that this was a temporary act of closure……
Who Is At the Table
Text: Philemon 1:1-17 On Monday night, our Administrative Council gathered to talk about how we are doing as a church and what we wanted to focus on next year. One of the questions before us was: How has Covid-19 impacted your ministry? Of course there were the obvious things… we’re worshipping online, we’ve adapted to…
The Real Housewives
Text: Romans 16:1-16 Last week we explored the nuts and bolts of what a house church was, how it functioned, and who was part of it. One of the things I lifted up is that while occasionally they would have had traveling preachers and apostles come visit, for the most part, these communities spent time…
Weaving a new thread…
Every three years, I have to go to sexual misconduct/boundaries training. It is required for all clergy in my conference of the United Methodist Church. We hold a lot of power in our role over the lives of parishioners and breaking that sacred trust by misusing that power to exploit someone else is absolutely unacceptable.…