Intersections

      I know we’ve been in dealing with the Corinthian church for the last month or so, and there was a possibility of continuing that through Paul’s second letter, but… given that we are pushing into Lent later this week, maybe it’s time to get back to the gospels. I set the theme of “Love Never Ends” and this is the last week for that series, and it may seem that this is a strange scripture to end on, but hopefully I can tie it up nicely. The theme throughout our scriptures in the series has been about how community matters - people matter - and that we individuals are part of a whole. Even last week with Willie preaching, his focus was on how the scouts (Boy, Girl & Cub) were another venue, like church, for teaching our young ones how to live in a community, and what kind of rules we should follow. It might even be fitting that the last sermon in our series would be something about how love is consistent and unchanging; that God’s love is the same yesterday, t...

  Good morning again - last week, we talked through the first chapter of the Book of John, how the light of Christmas was lit and that lighthouses can help guide those in danger away from it.  This week, we’ve looped back around a couple of weeks because we are back talking about John the Baptist, continuing the story from… three weeks ago, I think? Hopefully, you’re not sick of John yet, although this is the last week we will be in the gospels for a while. Anyway - as you can see outside, the seasons are changing. Winter is here! Oh… no … not those seasons. Our season of Christmas has finished, and now we are in the season after Epiphany. We are back to those so-called “ordinary weeks” or numbered weeks because since we’ve celebrated Christmas and Epiphany, these are kind of the meat and bones weeks for Jesus’ actual ministry. Today we’ll be starting with his baptism, and over the next couple of months, we’ll be discovering being the body of Christ: how we can show that LOVE...

  I trust that everyone had a good Christmas. It seems strange that we are back here again so quickly, but I hear preachers only work on Sundays. Thank you for being here. I know the week after Christmas is considered a “low Sunday” whether that’s attendance, or maybe my preparation, so thanks for joining me.  You may have seen that our topic today is Lost at Home, which I understand can be kind of confusing. As we’ve travelled through Advent, we’ve been on our journey to discover where our homes are, the places we can be ourselves, no matter who we are around or what’s going on. The places where we can let our guard down and just… be real.  I hope over the last month or so you’ve never felt lost, but Advent is a season where we can easily lose ourselves in busy-ness, lose ourselves in decorations and preparations for parties, lose ourselves in trivial things that now that the holiday is over, you may feel a little more empty.  I get that. We had such a high a f...

  How is everyone feeling? I know today’s topic is Coming Home, and we are right after Thanksgiving, so how many went home for it (or welcomed travelers from out of town) - traveled more than two hours for their celebration? Four hours?  For those who did not travel or to spend time with extended family - how were you feeling? Were you relieved? Anxious? Hopeful? Ambivalent?  Time to Go Home needs thoughtful preparation, but no matter where home is hope lives. You have freedom to be who God created you to be.  There are preparations to do, whether traveling or receiving guests. Now, when preparing for either hosting or traveling, it would be helpful to have a plan to make sure everything gets done before you leave, and then another method while you’re on the road - mapping out the route to your destination. I spent many hours on highways between here and southern Wisconsin, where my extended family lives. This was in the days before personal electronics, so there was...