Micah 5:2-5a and Luke 1:39-55

Stories and songs will abound this Sunday as we gather in worship. Ours is a sung faith and we repeat the stories of our Christian faith. Many different voices will be heard in our sanctuaries, yet all recalling the days some 2000 years ago. And how that Story still gives new life today!

Both congregations will receive the Word through much congregational participation. Christmas stories have been with most of us from childhood. And in turn we relive them and we pass along to all ages in our adult years.

Mary, Joseph, a baby in a manger, shepherds, angels and magi never seem to grow old.

So, join us as you can this Sunday, whether in-person or on-line, as our Advent prepares us one more week as we soon celebrate the birth of the Christ child.

Blessings~~~!

Pastor Barry †

Zephaniah 3:14-20, Philippians 4:4-7 and Luke 3:7-18

For our Third Sunday in Advent we hear texts that send us both the “loud” and “gentle” voice of God. John the Baptist loudly calls people to repentance for their sins. Paul and Zephaniah tell us God is for us and loves His people.

All this feels familiar to most of us from our childhood. If we hear our full name said in a loud voice we know mother wants our attention and that means now! But just as likely we will hear in the same day a reassurance that we are loved. Both are needed and describe a caring Parent.

And certainly, the character of the One calling to us is of vast importance. What is at the very heart of our Creator, our Heavenly Parent? His wrath is for a season but God’s love for us is everlasting. For both Advent and Christmas, the bottom line is a God who is with us and for us from the cradle to the grave. If that Voice is raised at times it is to get our attention for our sake and the sake of others. God means no harm. And the word to us is “first do no harm.”

The Third Candle we light is the one that reminds us of Mary the mother of Jesus. Here is THE example of a patient, caring parent who has heard from her God and desires to do Gods will because that alone leads to ultimate joy and gladness. As Mary will years later say to the wedding servants, “Do whatever He tells you.”

Receive your Advent invitation to listen and to seek God! Abundant life John 10:10 will follow!

Pastor Barry †

Malachi 3:1-4, Philippians 1:3-11 and Luke 3:1-6

Our second Sunday in Advent will remind us of exemplary people of faith such as St. Nicolas, John the Baptist, St. Paul, and Nelson Mandela. Three of those mentioned spent time in prison.

Not an easy place to enjoy one’s faith! But the life of faith exists in every conceivable location and condition. For this fact alone, we light our Advent Candles to remind us that the Light of the world shines on our path wherever we walk whether in joy or in stress and trouble.

And God celebrates diversity and uniqueness, the many personalities that make up the Body of Christ in the world. When we receive Holy Communion on Sunday it is remarkable that “all are welcome“ is a profound statement. We take the bread and cup at the table as do millions around the world vastly different in cultures, customs, traditions, geographies, and economies. Yet, we are one in Christ!

Let us rejoice in our witness together in word and in deed, doers of the Word not just hearers of the Word only.

Advent Candles, Colors, and Blessings in your spiritual preparation for the birth of Christ!

Pastor Barry †

Jeremiah 33:14-16, I Thessalonians 3:9-13 and Luke 21:25-36

Our first Sunday in the Christian Season is upon us. Just 1 or 2 more days! Then the great waiting until Christmas Eve……then Christmas Day arrives. We perpetually wait. This seems built into human nature and the fact we experience Time. And we have hints and clues as to what lies ahead based on experience, tradition, sacred stories, and reasonable forecasts!

Apparently, the Grand Finale in God’s Creation may well be dramatic and scary. Evil does not give up without a fight! But the Better End is worth the struggle says most all scripture e.g. Jeremiah, Luke, and Paul. There is the Good News worth waiting for.

And any such waiting is not boring or static. It is intended to be an active waiting full of life and joy and love. The full “abundant life” Jesus promises in John 10:10. So, we get both struggle and blessedness in that time we live in before the Eternal that is hard to describe. Let’s work with what we know making the most of what we are given!

We will light the first of four candles this Sunday reminding us of the Light leading us onward over the next few weeks and the rest of our life.

Happy Peaceful Advent to all!

Pastor Barry †

Daniel 7:9-14, Revelation 1:4-8 and John 18:33-37

So our year is at an end! No, not 2021. That’s another calendar. What the Church follows is a bit different in that Advent (Nov/Dec) is the beginning of Christian time keeping. And this Sunday Nov 21 is the last Sunday of the Christian year and scriptures selected emphasize the Kingship of God in Christ. Christ the King Sunday. Advent begins November 28 this year.

All three scriptures highlight God as ultimate authority, royal leader, the One to whom final loyalty is sworn. Yet, in the world, lesser kings and leaders and authorities must be dealt with. And there begins our struggle. Competing loyalties as well as earnest attempts to be faithful stewards in public governance always come into play.

This Sunday we will look at various leaders, kings, and tribes in world history and learn of the degrees of success and failure from the perspective of our faith. We are primarily followers, disciples who have to contend with two Kingdoms. We are in the world but not of it. It will take each of us a lifetime to live out this truth.

Christ has the Kingdom (Rule) of God and we as the family of God belong to that “Kin-dom” walking by faith together from every tribe under Heaven.

Blessings as the “Year” comes to a close and another begins on November 28!

Pastor Barry †

Daniel 12:1-3 and Mark 13:1-8

I write this on Veteran’s Day 2021. Most who served in the Armed Forces experienced the stress of being away from home, family, the regular workplace, and challenges of readiness to defend our nation and others. Some veterans endured combat and some did not return home. We remember and honor.

Our Bible passages for November 14th worship don’t directly address military service, but remind us of conflict in the world. Jesus instructs his disciples in both first century threats from tyrannical forces and the eventual final battle against evil in which God triumphs.

Mark 13 is often referred to as the Little Apocalypse. It describes the tumultuous spiritual and earthly battles in brief detail that the entire book of Revelation takes 21 chapters to unfold. Watch and wait! Always stand ready and be prepared!

Most who read this have lived through the most violent century in human history, the 20th Century. And yet……the Final Battle, God’s Conclusion has yet to appear. Even so, the “Kingdom of God is in our midst” says Jesus to disciples in every generation. We live in that tension between present struggles and the ultimate overcoming of those struggles through the Prince of Peace. The Church bears witness to this Truth.

Pray for each other and the contributions each can make in service to the Kingdom.

Pastor Barry †

Isaiah 25:6-9, John 11:32-44 and Revelation 21:1-6a

To get to All Saints Sunday, November 7, we have had the previous days observed by many churches in the past week:

All Hallows’ Eve (last Sunday Halloween)
All Saints Day (last Monday)
All Souls Day (last Tuesday)

Certainly a week of pondering mortality, the dear departed, and images of the afterlife!

Just as Jesus tells the family and friends of Lazarus to “unbind him” from the death cloth he is wrapped in, so Jesus calls us to be “unbound” by death anxiety and worry.

Most of us have had the experience of having too much clothing on for some occasion or temperature. As children we were often way over wrapped in coats and scarves in cold weather! In hot Summer in church, a coat and tie became too much! Unbind us!

Symbolically a host of fears, worries, anxieties can bind us to fearful living. Jesus sets an example for us in dealing with these genuine concerns. He shows that he is concerned as well when he weeps over the loss of his friend. Loss hurts.

Yet, he demonstrates the power of God to overcome the Last Enemy. Jesus directs our focus to be upon God who “unbinds” us from living a fearful, constrained, restricted life just because we are mortal.

In worship we are reminded constantly of God’s overarching care for us and that we are never far from the Communion of the Saints, our dear departed family and friends.

This Sunday in worship, we remember the Saints, at the Lords Table remember Jesus’ death for us, and light a candle to show the way through our darkness.

Thanks be to God, the Alpha and the Omega!

Pastor Barry †

Psalm 146, Mark 6:45-53 ansd Revelation 20:1-6

Halloween is second only to Christmas in commercial sales for a holiday! Costumes, food, candy, party items, and “scary” movies have an amazing appeal! And for it to fall on a Sunday seems be in stark contrast to what most Sunday worship centers upon!

Yet, Halloween is All Saints Eve! All Saints Day is Nov 1 and it is a day to remember all the Saints, the dear departed of the faith. How the day before became Halloween has a long history and is indeed connected to certain aspects of the. Christian faith. Death and our human mortality for instance.

Our three texts key in on our very finite limited existence as well as God’s intention to have the Last Word on human creation those made a “little lower than the angels.”

The Psalmist is very direct about death as “the end of all our planning.” But Revelation points to God’s Big Picture using colorful images of Hope. The Mark text reveals some notion of first century thoughts about visions, assumptions about post mortem existence, and some ways of expressing the mystery of human Being.

The sermon will explore how much of Biblical thought about life and death has made its way into popular culture in ways both good and not so good. Halloween even with its emphasis on “fun” can be confusing and misleading when trying to come to grips with our mortal life and our Eternal Life.

No wonder the Church has had an uneasy relationship with Halloween for many generations! We can see the fun kids have but also consider the deeper thoughts and feelings that lie behind both Halloween and All Saints Eve.

Blessings in your prayerful consideration of both church life and our popular culture we move in and out of each day!

Pastor Barry †

Job 42:1-17, Hebrews 7:23-28 and Mark 10:46-52

Things in each life may stay the same for years. But, they just don’t stay the same forever! Moments present themselves and change can come by unwelcome force or by inner will.

Suffering Job’s moment came in dialogue with God. The blind beggar Bartimaeus seized the moment and asked for help. In the Hebrews text we are told who makes the change to come about. We have a high priest who intercedes for us, bids us to follow.

Change can come slowly or suddenly, quietly or loudly, alone or with others. The one thing to keep in mind is that God is in the midst of the change. What will we make of that?

Life is like a flowing river. We are carried along. We can grab an out cropping of rock and try to stay put for a while. But at some point we let go and go again with the flow. Sometimes the waters are fairly calm and at other times it’s like being in white water racing toward more rapids or a waterfall!

For the person of faith, as scary or uncertain as the stream may be, there will always be a Life Jacket to keep us safe, to help us change around in the water and keep our head up as we are pulled along toward the river’s End.

A change is going to come. Why not expect it to include a blessing for you as once for Job and Bartimaeus? Yes, it may be during a rough time in life, but a blessing nonetheless!

As the season of Fall reminds us so well, changes will come!

Pastor Barry †

Job 38:1-7, Psalm 104:1-9 and Mark 10:35-45

Lovely October Fall isn’t it? So far so good. The outdoors beckons as does get- togethers and travel to the hills and mountains. People notice God’s handiwork, Nature, in all it’s awesomeness and beauty!

Such an awareness of the majesty, mystery, and marvel of Creation often leads to a humility in knowing our human place and limitations in the world. Or according to Job and many of the Psalms.

Well, in spite of the disciples having those scriptures and seeing Jesus’ good examples of servanthood, they were not very humble but rather inclined to having power and glory for themselves. Hard lessons were to follow the disciples for years to come.

It’s not much different today or in any generation. Power, ambition, greed, pride beckon us all too often. Al Capone, gangster during Prohibition and beyond, is an example of most of the “vice list” above. On October 17, 1931 he went to prison after years of crime and a clear lack of humility and willingness to serve anyone but himself.

He is an extreme example of the failure to learn from Job, the Psalms and the teachings of servant Jesus. Sadly we all will be tempted in that direction even if to a lesser degree than one of the most infamous criminals.

Let us take to heart the message from these scriptures and examine ourselves during the beautiful, magnificent season in God’s Creation. We are part of that. Let’s just be reminded of our place and role and identity in the world!

Enjoy God’s gifts and be humble!

Pastor Barry †