Tag: god’s love
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God Love You! No Exceptions!
Standing outside our church on my birthday, several members and I read aloud the shared banner, “God loves YOU! NO Exceptions!” “I am so happy and proud to see this at our church!” One member commented to me, asking about the process for our church to place a rainbow banner on our front lawn. Story…
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Ask the Pastor – Worship Stuff Part 2 – Confession & Forgiveness
Have you ever wondered why we do what we do during worship? What’s up with the passing the peace? Why do we have a community confession? Maybe you’ve wondered if there’s more to the offering besides collecting gifts for the church. If you’ve been asking, if you’ve been curious, if you’ve been wondering, this is…
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“For I Was” – God’s Work Our Hands
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in ~Matthew 25:35 This weekend ELCA congregations across the country will be celebrating God’s Work Our Hands Day of Service. A day spent serving our community, caring…
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Spirit-Filled – Festival of Homiletics 2018: Part 7
Start at part 1 of this series on experiences from the Festival of Homiletics 2018 here! I did not expect this week. I had forgotten what an intensive like this could be like. It brought me back to those Spirit-filled intensives at seminary. Filled with colleagues, with kindred spirits, with inspiration and wisdom, and with a…
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Kind of Morbid – Observing Good Friday
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ~Romans 5:6 NRSV Good Friday is sort of a weird day in the church. Or at least it’s weird to me. It’s a bit morbid, gathering together to remember Jesus’s death. I remember a few years ago I had a…
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Speaking to Us – Why We Support Deep Roots New Life
This article was written for the Southwestern Washington Synod of the ELCA’s March Newsletter, I hope you enjoy it here, and I invite you to check out the newsletter from our synod’s website when it becomes available! Southwestern Washington has been my synod for the majority of my life. I actually grew up in an ELCA church…
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When Words Fail
Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy. Kyrie Eleison In the wake of last week’s shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, I found myself with out words. Still my heart struggles, still words seem to fail me. And honestly, as I left our Ash Wednesday service last week, just…
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Beloved, Broken, Bearers
I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be beloved, broken, bearers of God’s love. This wondering has come up for me because of the conference I attended last week, but also because of our upcoming education series.This coming Sunday we begin our next series in our Sunday morning adult education. For February,…
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#metoo – Lifting voices
“Me too.” ~Hagar (Gen 21), Bilhah (Gen 30), Dinah (Gen 34), Tamar (Gen 38), Bathsheba (2 Sm 11), Tamar II (2 Sm 13), Unnamed Woman (Jgs 19-21), and countless more On October 15th, a saddening trend began on Twitter and Facebook. I started seeing posts from friends and acquaintances saying, “Me too. If all the…
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The Church Begins – Discomfort & Cleanliness
and he said to them, “You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean.” ~Acts 10:28 In the verse above from Acts, Peter is speaking directly about the Jewish law regarding socialization…