Bethlehem Lutheran Church Podcast: Recent Episodes
Bethlehem Lutheran Church
Love is a verb. It isn't just a feeling it is an action! That is especially true of the AGAPe love we have focused on for nearly a year now. Our society’s view of love is too often focused on love as a feeling. In the fairytales it is ‘true love’ that solves the problem, but when the feeling fades trouble returns. Our Focus Text from Romans helps us recognize what love as a verb looks like. Jesus taught and modeled this love in action for us as he became like a servant and washed the feet of the disciples who would soon betray him, deny him and abandon him. It is this true ‘True Love’ that makes a real difference in our lives when we put AGAPe love in action!
Is the Jesus you envision ever angry? In this week’s Focus Text Jesus is indignant, angry, because the disciples are shooing away the kids that are coming to see Jesus. And even worse, he just got done telling them we need to approach God like a child to truly understand God’s vision for Creation. Jesus is angry but what is more important is how and to whom he channels that energy. Instead of taking it out on the disciples, throwing them out of his inner circle, he invites the children they where blocking to join in the circle. The outcasts of society, whose access to community is obstructed by powerful people who believe it’s their duty to gatekeep, are invited into the embrace of God’s love.
We have all felt unwelcome or out of place from time to time. Remember the difference it makes when someone reaches out and says there is room for you here? That is what the Reign of God is like, we all are invited to find a place to belong in the community of God's children and we are expected to make room for those who are feeling out of place.
For those who want to maintain their hold on power and influence the Parables of Jesus turn their world upside down. Even after all the violence and destruction caused by humanity God’s grace continues to call us to be an active part of building up the Kingdom of God in our communities and all around the world.
How do we measure success? Outcomes. In the Gospel of Mark, the crowds are expecting a certain outcome: they want God’s Kingdom to arrive with power, with victory, with obvious success. But time after time the Kingdom of God is revealed in the opposite: children, meals shared, quiet acts of compassion, and in our Focus Text, once again, seeds. When a seed is planted it is out of sight, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t working toward the outcome of a new plant. When we don’t see an immediate outcome, we shouldn’t assume God is absent instead we can trust God is at work using our small acts to grow the Kingdom in unnoticed ways just beneath the surface.
There’s storms in life that we just can’t control: layoffs, cancer, the poor decisions of others, even literal weather that disrupts our plans. If you feel like God is absent in your storm this week’s Focus Text is a reminder that even when everything is out of your control God is with you as promised.
In our Focus Text this week, Jesus has a few parables for the Kingdom of God, all of them involve being hidden. A tiny fragile seed is hidden in the ground before becoming a great big plant, it's a process that is hard to comprehend and one that requires patience like waiting for a butterfly to emerge from its chrysalis. Sometimes when God is at work in our lives, it is hidden away and in the moment we don't comprehend how our life is changing. In another parable Jesus reminds us that God's work in and through us is like a light of a lamp, we should make sure that light isn't hidden away.
In our Focus Text for this week, we hear John’s version of the Feeding Stories, which appear in all four Gospels. John’s is the only version that mentions the source of the little bit of bread and fish that end up feeding a multitude: a young boy in the crowd. John’s Gospel is reminder that God works with what we would likely dismiss as being too little to bother sharing. The Miracle Jesus performs begins when a little boy bothers enough to share, bothers to care, bothers to love. The Senior High Service Learning Trip students saw first hand the multitude of neighbors struggling in San Francisco, but instead of being overwhelmed they took action on a scale they could handle: one meal served, one night at a shelter prepared, a simple outdoor project completed at one Bible Camp. Instead of making excuses for why we can’t help especially when the problem seems so big the Focus Text invites us to bother to take one small action for even just one person.
What is your go-to problem solving method? Careful, well-researched solutions that are known to work? Or do you charge in, throwing the kitchen sink at a problem because there are no bad solutions as long as it works? In our Focus Text we encounter people who approach problems in both these options. The friends of the paralytic man don’t stop until they reach Jesus even if that means cutting a hole in the roof! The Scribes are so set in their scholarly understanding of God that they don’t understand how God’s love works even when God is standing right in front of them. The solution Jesus offers is one grounded in the eternal promises, but at the same time taking immediate action to make us whole.
Has anyone famous come out of your hometown? In our Focus Text this week, Nathanael is convinced that nothing good has ever come out of Nazareth and God certainly wouldn’t send a Messiah there! And then he encounters Jesus of Nazareth and his whole idea of how God works is changed. Time after time God is using the ordinary to share the extraordinary love of AGAPe! Even if your hometown isn’t known for its celebrity, God is present working in & through the ordinary and in & through you!
When you find yourself stumbling around in the dark, sometimes it helps to pause and let your eyes adjust. The faith practice of discernment is like that in the dark times of your life, pausing to search for the small, steady light that will help you take the next step. It’s noticing where hope flickers, where peace breaks through, and where God’s unconditional love, Agape, is always present. Discernment trains us to trust that light exists, and to let it guide our choices. If you feel like you are stuck in the darkness – this message can help you discern the light of Agape.
It is one thing to hear about Agape, God's unconditional love for us, and another thing entirely to practice Agape with our neighbors, especially those we disagree with. This week Pastor Stephanie encourages us to look at the foundation of our faith, where we find God's unconditional love for us. It is much easier to be a doer of Agape when we recognize that God's Agape is at the very core of our being.
We can appreciate the idea of the Fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. But how do we bear those fruits when so often it is easier to grow “a bad tree.” It takes practice! When we commit to engaging in Faith Practices we find that reward is the Fruit of the Spirit being shared with us and with our neighbors.
Pastor Stephanie asks “What is Love?” as we kick off a new theme for 2025-26: “Agape: When Love is Greater” This year we will be exploring a particular kind of love: Agape, the Greek word for an unconditional love.
As we wrap up our 2024-25 Theme: “Flourish” Pastor Chad encourages us to discover a critical part of truly flourishing in all parts of our life: HOPE!
A better understanding of the original language of Bible can often help us better understand some of the most familiar Bible verses. For instance in “Go and make disciples” the word Go in the original Greek is an active verb not a directive. It is more like: “As you go on your way, be making disciples along the way.” This means we don’t have to go to some far away place to make disciples, we can use our everyday words and actions in our own neighborhoods to share the Good News.
Do you have to believe the right things and behave the right way in order to belong? Or are those just Roadblocks, Restrictions, Regulations, Conditions, Stipulations, Limitations, & Constraints, that we set up to keep others on the outside? In our Focus Text this week, Jesus says he is the gate and we are the sheep. Does this mean we have to measure up to pass thru the gate or risk being left out with the bandits? Pastor Chad invites us to consider the way Jesus interacted with strangers: he first offered an invitation to belong without first passing some test, then belonging changed their behavior, and finally it led to belief!
The Red Letters of the Bible (Jesus' words) have a lot to say about how we should live. And, some of this advice is really hard to do, like: Love Your Enemy. The good news is Jesus did more than just speak this advice, his actions modeled the kind of love that we are created to share with all people, even our enemies!
When imagining our “best self” we can get stuck thinking about the past, before major traumatic life changes. The Prophet Zephaniah was writing to a whole nation (Israel) after the shared trauma of the Babylonian Exile, sharing the hope that God would bring restoration. But the restoration would only come by moving forward through the trauma not by returning to the idealized “best self” of the time before the Exile. The short book of Zephaniah is a good reminder that God is calling us to move forward knowing that God is with us even in the midst of the traumatic times of our life.
Life doesn’t always go as expected, if it did Pastor Stephanie would be an Olympic Figure Skater by now! When we encounter the unexpected storms in life that take us off the path we had envisioned we should remember the God who was with Sarah, Elizabeth, and Mary is also with us through the storms.
“Stop your crying and suck it up!” and similar phrases are tossed about when someone is deemed to be “too emotional” or expressing their emotions at an inappropriate moment. You are in good company if you’ve heard this before, in our Focus Text people tell Jesus his crying over the death of Lazarus is inappropriate. Wouldn’t it have been better if he healed Lazarus like the blind man and others he encountered? Jesus grieving the death of a friend, shows how God understands our tears when we come to the ‘sad parts’ of a familiar story. God is walking with us through the high and lows of life and everything in between.
How has our understanding of healing changed since biblical times? In our focus text this week Jesus heals a boy with what we would call Epilepsy. In the time of Jesus, the boy’s seizures were thought to be caused by a demon twisting his body. Today we know that seizures are caused by electrical misfires in our brain and nervous system. While Jesus is not walking the earth offering healing with a touch, God has gifted some of us with the knowledge and skills to be professional healers. And we are all able to offer our neighbors a bit of healing when we take the time to be compassionate like Jesus.
Where does your anger lead you? Does it lead to you trying to shape reality by proclaiming what SHOULD or SHOULD NOT be happening. In our focus text this week the people of Nazareth insist that Jesus SHOULD NOT say God’s favor is for all people especially the outsiders and even their enemies! Instead of using anger to exclude others we feel SHOULD NOT be included, Jesus uses anger to expand who SHOULD receive healing and hope from God’s love, mercy, and grace.
Sometimes it’s hard to see the worth of someone who is lashing out against us. It is hard to remember that we can sometimes lash out the same way, especially when we are tired, or hurt, or fearful, or hungry or feeling like we’ve lost control. In our focus text for this week the religious leaders don’t think a man was worthy of the healing he got because he broke their rules and carried his mat away on the Sabbath. He argues was only following Jesus command: “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” This made the leaders even more angry because Jesus was telling people to disobey their rules. Feeling their control slipping away they lashed out at Jesus, to the point of calling for his execution. Jesus died on the cross for not only the ones he healed but even the ones who were calling for his death! And that is the Good News, even when we are hurt so badly that we are lashing out at others, even when we are mad at God for offering healing to those who have hurt us, even when we hurt so badly we don’t feel we deserve God’s healing, God is there offering us all the love & healing none of us deserve!
Language changes over time, and that leads to new slang with each new generation. This creates a gap in understanding between generations that is not unlike the gap between the disciples and the visitors from many countries they met on Pentecost. How could they share the Good News of Jesus when they didn’t understand the language of those they encountered? On Pentecost it was the work of the Holy Spirit that enabled everyone to hear the message in their native language. But what about today, how do we share the Good News, when generation gaps, cultural differences, or even actual languages separate us from others? Pastor Stephanie reminds us that it is a gift to be able to learn how another communicates even if we have to take classes or ask for a translator. “Actions speak louder than words” is especially true when there’s a barrier to communication: serving our neighbors, sharing a meal, or even just taking time to play can help build bridges to better understanding each other.
Today’s focus text is an addendum to the Gospel of Mark. Why did the early scribes feel the need to add to the Gospel? It was to add motivation, it was a commissioning for the followers of Jesus. Being motivated is important and the best motivation comes from inside. The motivation in the text at first seems like external motivators, believe and receive this reward, but Pastor Chad challenges us to see these rewards as the results of being motivated from the inside by a heart that reflects God’s love for us and all Creation.
Humans are very good about placing boundaries between US and THEM. In our focus text Jesus acknowledges one of these human boundaries that separated the Jewish people from the non-Jewish people. But the woman he encounters is desperate to help her daughter even if it means crossing that boundary to ask for help from someone on the other side. The healing of her daughter illustrates the power of God’s love, grace, mercy, and compassion to break down our boundaries so that we can cross over to the “other” side and share that love, grace, mercy, and compassion with them!
How many times should you forgive someone before you give up? Jesus says 77 times. That's a lot! And that's the point we should follow Jesus' example in forgiving others an infinite number of times. But why should we continue to forgive those who don't change their ways or never apologize? Pastor Stephanie reminds us that your forgiveness is not for them it is for you! It breaks the chain that connects you to them and the evil they have done, freeing you to love & forgive others as God intends which in turns breaks their chains to sin.
As much as we say we hate rules, we also need direction, a vision of where we are headed. Pastor Stephanie invites us to view today’s focus text not as a rule book but a vision of what our life looks like if we are following in the way that Jesus set before us.
Do you have a ‘friend’ who is blocked from your life because of the way they wronged you or a difference in opinion that you can’t overcome? On Social Media it is easy to mute, block, or ban these people in an instant; in real life we have also gotten good at avoiding the hard work and the time needed to restore broken relationships. Pastor Chad invites us to explore our focus text where Jesus reminds us that God’s vision for Creation is all about taking the time and putting in the effort to restore brokenness with grace, mercy, love, and compassion. Living into the story of our faith means we strive to be reconciled with one another and with God.
"That's Not Fair!" There's many times in life where we find ourselves uttering those words. The Parable of the Prodigal Son is an example of just how unfair life can be! The son who squandered his inheritance in far-off places gets a party while his brother who stayed home has been working hard for their father gets nothing! It's just not fair! Jesus uses parables to show his followers what the Kingdom of God is all about. So the Kingdom of God is unfair?! Yes, and that's the Good News!! God welcomes us each home even when we don't deserve it. And we never deserve it because we all have squandered what God has given us at some point in our lives. Thanks be to God that love is unfair!
Pastor Chad is marking his 43rd Easter Service. Hearing the same story over and over again you begin to get comfortable with it as it becomes familiar. Hearing the Easter Story 43 times it is in danger of becoming predictable, so routine it loses meaning. Pastor Chad challenges us to rePHRASE the Easter message and find its value in our life especially our life on Monday after the celebration is over, after our family has gone home, after the decorations are put away and when we most need the Good News of God's love, grace, & mercy as we face the challenges of our everyday life!
Why does Luke include the dialogue between Jesus and the criminals in the account of the Crucifixion? Pastor Chad invites us to rePHRASE our understanding to see how Luke is emphasizing second chances. A justly condemned criminal is invited to join Jesus in Paradise. Jesus offers forgiveness to the people who were part of his execution while hanging on the very implement of his death. The executioner gets a second chance at life after he recognizes the sacrifice God made to offer him forgiveness. The whole world got a second chance at a connection with God, that was no longer separated and distant but near and among us in the pain and darkness of this world. Luke includes they dialogue because we need reminders that God is a God of 2nd Chances!
Americans love to read novels set in fantasy worlds. Pastor Stephanie invites us to consider what happens when real life blends into the fantastical and the world of faith? God warned King Nebuchadnezzar in a dream that his arrogance would be his downfall. Like many fables used to teach a moral lesson the story of King Nebuchadnezzar uses a fantastical transformation to warn the hearer of the dangers of certain character traits. It took being reduced to a wild creature for him to be humbled to the point of recognizing the greatness of God.
Humans like the illusion that they have everything figured out and under control. But times change and the things we thought we had figured out turn out to be completely wrong. The Snake Oil Remedies of the 19th Century where medical breakthroughs of the day. Looking back we know they were ineffective or worse dangerous but at the time we thought we “had it all figured out!” Jesus reminds us that we don’t have it figured out. And, that’s okay, because when we give up that false sense of control and instead trust that God is with us even when things get wildly out of control.
People are weird! Their actions are bizarre. Their behaviors are odd. How are we supposed to react when these peculiar people interact with us? In today’s focus text Jesus has an out of the ordinary encounter. Actions that the Pharisee views as bizarre, Jesus understands as love grounded in repentance & faith. From Jesus’ perspective it is the Pharisee whose behavior is odd, not recognizing the gift of forgiveness Jesus was offering. We all are a bit different, but the Good News is that Jesus loves us just as we are, every weird bit of us!
Do you ever find yourself wishing someone else would fail, just so you look better? Pastor Stephanie has spent the last two weeks in Norway, training with the MN National Guard. The Winter Survival Training included a number of challenging tasks that would have ended in failure if every member of the team didn't put in the effort to see the whole team succeed. Wanting others to fail so that you could look successful, likely would have resulted in the failure of everyone. In our focus text this week, Jonah wants his enemies to fail, so much so that he only puts in minimal effort into his task of warning the people of Nineveh of their impending doom. In his desire to see them fail, Jonah fails himself. But the Good News in the story is God’s mercy is shown to both the people of Nineveh who succeeded in turning from their evil ways and to Jonah who failed at being God’s messenger. God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love (even when we fail)!
Go to your happy place. It’s advice we sometimes hear when we get so tired we dread doing the simplest of things. In our focus text the weary disciples find their happy place on the mountain top with Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. Pastor Chad understands the rest that can be found in our happy places, but also knows, like the disciples, we can’t stay in those places forever. Eventually we need to come down the mountain and back into the world that made us tired in the first place. The Good News in the focus text is that Jesus accompanies the disciples, and us, back into the world where we are called to meet and embrace our neighbors in their own tiredness with the grace, mercy, and compassion of Jesus!
Turning water into wine is just a magic trick, right? If ‘The Amazing Chad’ can do it, what is so miraculous about Jesus’ version? Pastor Chad invites us to rePHRASE this story in a way that is less about a miracle and more about being a sign pointing to God’s vision for our world. It is about finding God’s abundance among the scarcity of life. When we share our time & resources with an abundance mindset something magical happens, our neighbors suffering in scarcity experience the abundance of God’s love, grace, and mercy.
We all have worries. But what happens when those worries become such a burden that we are paralyzed by fear? Our focus text has some words from Jesus addressing our worry. It is not simply have faith and your worries will be gone. Jesus recognizes that there are some worries that can be beneficial, those worries that spur us into action. But too often we get caught up in worrying about things that are out of our control. Those are the worries that Jesus is inviting us to let go of so that we can focus on taking action in relieving the fears and worries of our neighbors.
What is the story behind your name? Parents often are very deliberate in choosing a name, because names matter! That name is not the only one we are given. As we go through life we might acquire other names: sibling, spouse, or parent. Then there are names we are called. Too often these names are negative, especially those we call ourselves: fat, stupid, or unlovable. These same names are used by others as weapons to make themselves feel superior. Too rarely others give us names that build us up, typically as recognition for our accomplishments. There is one name we are called that builds us up without any effort on our part: beloved child of God! In our baptism we are claimed by God and given this name, the name that matters most! It is a name that cannot be taken away from us and is a name that contradicts all those negative names we are given or give ourselves.
We all want more peace in our lives. Unfortunately, too often we think we can find that peace in a quick fix: buying the latest trendy product that promises fulfillment, by tackling one more task that will finally let you relax, or turning to a chemical fix that numbs the mind & emotions. Today’s Focus Text offers a solution that brought true peace, but it wasn’t a quick fix! Simeon had waited his entire life to meet the promised Messiah. He didn’t feel the need to do anything or buy anything to find peace, he placed his trust in God and waited in hope. When Jesus is brought to the Temple for dedication, Simeon is there and recognizes the baby is the Messiah he has waited to meet. Simeon has true peace because he filled the void with hope and trust in God’s promises.
FAIR WARNING: Today’s focus text takes us into a dangerous place: the wilderness! Across cultures the wilderness is dangerous place because it is where we encounter “the other.” The story of the wise men visiting Jesus is a wilderness story. The wise men are travelling to an unknown land with foreign customs and culture, they are entering a wilderness space and bringing with them the customs & culture of “the other”. The thing about the wilderness in the biblical story is that it brings change which can sometimes feel dangerous. The good news is that the change the wilderness brings can help us experience the true joy that comes when we embrace “the other” as God calls us to do.
The focus text for this week is one that we tend to ignore because it doesn't fit our idea of the Christmas season. We would much rather focus on the Hallmark-esque version filled with family, friends, joy, and peace than hear about how children were massacred by a tyrant in the name of power and control. Pastor Stephanie encourages us to recognize that God is with us when Christmas and life don't meet the Hallmark standard. Like "Auld Lang Syne" if we forget the times God shows up in the rubble of life we miss out on the opportunity to find comfort when the Hallmark movie set begins to crumble around us.
One of the ideas behind our theme of rePHRASE was how perspective changes the way we interpret a story. This week’s focus text is a good example of how a little different perspective can help us relate to a familiar story that we may find unapproachable with our past perspective. The Annunciation, when an angel visited Mary to tell her she would carry the Son of God, often depicts Mary as at peace with the unbelievable life-changing news. Pastor Chad invites us to take a different perspective of the story, the word describing Mary as perplexed is better translated as: deeply troubled. The news was a major disruption to Mary’s plan for life. We know disruption, we know what it is to be deeply troubled when our life isn’t going according to plan. Understanding the Annunciation from this perspective helps make it relatable and offers us hope that we can find the same comfort that Mary found in trusting God’s plan!
One of the ideas behind our theme of rePHRASE was how perspective changes the way we interpret a story. This week’s focus text is a good example of how a little different perspective can help us relate to a familiar story that we may find unapproachable with our past perspective. The Annunciation, when an angel visited Mary to tell her she would carry the Son of God, often depicts Mary as at peace with the unbelievable life-changing news. Pastor Chad invites us to take a different perspective of the story, the word describing Mary as perplexed is better translated as: deeply troubled. The news was a major disruption to Mary’s plan for life. We know disruption, we know what it is to be deeply troubled when our life isn’t going according to plan. Understanding the Annunciation from this perspective helps make it relatable and offers us hope that we can find the same comfort that Mary found in trusting God’s plan!
A diamond ring begins as some ordinary looking rocks. It takes time and energy to bring out the beauty within those raw materials. This week’s focus text reminds us that we too benefit from time and energy to bring out the true beauty that reflects the light of God! Advent is a season of waiting, a time to slow down and prepare for the birth of the Light of God in Jesus. May we all take some time and invest some energy in refining our lives so we may better reflect God’s love back out into the world around us.
Pastor Chad finds himself talking about fear more often these days. But why is that? Most, if not all, of us experience fear, and more specifically anxiety (fear of losing something without an immediate threat) so it is a relevant concern. Pastor Chad is focused on is how Jesus teaches his followers to counter their fear with compassion and action. Jesus does not dismiss our fears or promise our anxiety will be eliminated instead he shows us the way to actively love God and our neighbor. Following this path prevents us from being overwhelmed by our fears and helps us grow into the life that God intends for Creation.
Nice vs Kind. Sheep vs Goats. Pastor Stephanie invites us to consider how much time and energy we waste on trying to figure out whether someone is worthy of our kindness or not. She reminds us that Jesus told us to be sheep who share with those in need just like we were sharing with Jesus himself. The good news is that God loves us all like sheep even when we are acting like goats, our job now is to see our neighbors as sheep beloved by God.
What’s stopping you? In the case of our focus text this week: EVERYTHING! When the Ethiopian eunuch asked to be baptized by Philip, everything said the answer was a clear “No!” Generations of tradition and teaching said that the eunuch could not be made part of the community of faith. He was a foreigner, he was not “a whole man,” both of which would have excluded him from worship in the Jewish Temple. But Philip had experienced the way Jesus was constantly welcoming the outsider into his community of followers. When the world told Philip everything was standing the way, Jesus showed him that nothing should stop him! Today when the world tells us there is every reason not to welcome the stranger God shows us the compassion, love and mercy that welcomes us all!
Since the beginning threats of God’s wrath have been used to instill fear in others. Fear allows those in power to control others and further solidify their power. When religion abuses this fear it takes away our ability to explore, search, ask questions, grow, and become what God actually intends for us. Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount encourages his followers to ask God and seek out the good things of life together. Bad parents use fear to control their children and maintain their own power, good parents encourage kids to explore, to ask questions, to take risks so that they can grow into their best versions of themselves. God, Jesus says, is so much better than a good parent. As we celebrate with the youth affirming the promises of their Baptism in the Confirmation Service on Sunday, Pastor Chad reminds us that faith formation at Bethlehem is not about using fear to get kids to adhere to rigid set of rules & expectations or scoring points on a test but rather it is about living out Jesus’ call to seek and ask and knock knowing that with God, the ultimate parent, we can find and receive and enter.
Death is scary.Last week Pastor Stephanie introduced us to the Hallowtide, the Triduum for the Dead, as we explored All Hallows’ Eve (Halloween) and the Reformation. This week we explore the next day in the Hallowtide, All Saints’ Day. While in history it was a day to remember the proclaimed Saints (like the Apostles), in the Lutheran Church we remember that we are all claimed by God in baptism to be saints. On All Saints’ we honor both those who have been baptized and those who have died in the last year. We also use the day as a reminder that even though death is scary, Jesus proclaimed, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” One way we find comfort is by facing our grief which can be made easier by incorporating a ritual like lighting a candle. That little light is a reminder that Jesus is the Light of the World and one day he will “wipe every tear from their eyes.”
What does Halloween have to do with Martin Lutheran and the Reformation? More than you might realize! Pastor Stephanie explains the connection between the two as she looks at the role shame played in Martin Luther's early understanding of faith and how that changed after reading Romans helped him understand Grace. God offers us salvation just as we are, even when we feel like wearing a crown and carrying a lightsaber!
“I am just average, I won’t change the world.” Faced with the issues of the world we often see ourselves as too little, too insignificant to make a difference. But God knows otherwise! In our focus text Jesus tells his followers they are light. Our little lights shine through the darkness. Pastor Chad invites us to consider our identity from God’s perspective: “I am _____”. Over and over again, Jesus compares us to little things that make a big difference: light, salt, yeast, mustard seeds. Even when we feel small, God knows we are making a big difference in our world!
Sometimes when we get lost in a fog, literal or metaphorical, the world passes us by unnoticed. In our focus text this week, two of Jesus’ followers are in a fog of grief after the Crucifixion and a fog of disbelief regarding the rumors of the Resurrection. They are so lost they don’t believe the man they met as he reveals the truth about the Resurrection, about HIS Resurrection! Even in their lost disbelief Jesus continues to accompany them which is good news for us: even when we are lost in a fog, God is with us and is sending in others to help us see clearly once the fog has lifted.
Don’t judge a book by its cover! In our focus text today the crowds are judging Zaccheus by what they can see, he is a Chief Tax Collector which means he is a liar, a cheat, and a collaborator with occupying Roman Empire. But like the paint on an old house, people have layer upon layer of complexity. Jesus sees beyond the Chief Tax Collector layer of Zaccheus and recognizes him as a beloved child of God. Being seen on a deeper layer also changes Zaccheus as he gives half his riches to the poor and repays those he has cheated. It is a lesson for us to both know that we are known by God beyond the layer we show the world and that everyone we encounter is also beloved by God even when all we can see is the top layer.
Do you find yourself making things harder than they need to be? We have been taught that nothing good comes without hard work. Unfortunately, that makes it hard to comprehend God’s unconditional love for us. Like Naaman in this week’s focus text we think there must be something we can do to be rewarded with God’s healing and love! Or that we can have God’s love taken away from us for not following the long list of rules we set for ourselves and others. The story of Naaman reminds us that God’s love is a gift of grace, not an elaborate production we are tasked with carrying out in order to receive and retain God’s love. Instead we are tasked with responding to that free unconditional gift by following it as an example of how to interact with our neighbors.
Do you like to argue? This week’s focus text is about an argument about who is right and who is wrong, about who is on the inside and who is on the outside. The problem is the Jewish followers of Jesus are trying to argue that they are the only ones inside God’s love. They don’t think the people with different food and cultural customs should be included in the community of believers. God of course has a very different idea of who belongs and gives Simon Peter a vision that those divisions are gone when it comes to the love, grace & mercy of God in Christ. Pastor Chad invites us to take a look at the ideas & identities that divide us today and consider how listening with love instead of making another argument we can build a better community that reflects God’s love for everyone.
Pastor Stephanie encourages us to look at the signs and symbols that are all around us. Pay close attention to those that offer you hope. Our focus text this week includes a symbol of hope God offered Creation after The Flood: the rainbow. It is a reminder of the promise God made that there will be hope after the storm. Pastor Stephanie encourages you to consider two questions when you find your own sign of hope, whether it’s the Cross or the Hot Donuts Now sign at Krispy Kreme. Ask yourself: “Why does this sign bring hope?” and “Where do I see God at work in this sign?”
Pastor Chad introduces our theme for 2023-24 re:PHRASE by asking us to take a look at our music playlist. There’s a reason it (likely) doesn’t feature the Greatest Hits of 1904 like “Yankee Doodle Dandy” and “Sweet Adeline.” Musical tastes change over time, even Pastor Chad’s Workout Playlist of ‘90s Alt Rock gets weird looks from the Taylor Swift Fans of today. Over time and with life experience our understanding of music, art, literature changes and needs to be rephrased for today. In the focus text for this week Paul is writing to the people of Corinth reminding them that in following Jesus they have been changed, they are a new creation! You are not who you were 10 years ago, 5 years ago, or even just last Fall. You are constantly being changed by your life experiences, good and bad, you, too, are a new creation Wherever you find yourself right now, Paul reminds us that new creation is always taking place! With every joy and every grief that change brings into your life, the unchanging grace, love, and mercy of God will be there to support you and give you the strength that you need.
Pastor Stephanie wraps up the final week of our final Momentum focus: Renewed Spirit with a look at transitions, a very timely topic as we close the door on summer and open up into a new school year. Our Momentum theme ends at the end of the Bible, the closing chapter of Revelation. In his dream John is told Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega: the beginning and the end. Jesus was there at the beginning and will be there at the end of time, which is good news for us! God is with us when we are nervous about opening the door to a new beginning and God is with us when we grieve the closing the book at the end of this chapter and God is with us everywhere in between!
Last week Pastor Chad was talking about evangelism and how we can best motivate others to join us in this community of faith. The best way is to interact with our neighbors in a way that reflects God’s love for us all and then share our faith story. One of the worst ways is to instill a sense of obligation to follow in the traditions simply because they are tradition. This week he is looking at what motivates us, as people of faith, to follow God’s Call into the world to share the Good News. Once again doing it out of obligation is one of the worst motivations. When our motivation is an external force like money, or societal expectations, we quickly burn out because it sucks the life out of us. When we find an internal motivation it breathes life into us instead. Jesus instilled in his disciples an intrinsic motivation by showing them the hope and life to be found in living out God’s vision for Creation. That same motivation is here for us today if we chose to follow it instead of chasing the external motivators that will only leave us exhausted.
After 16 year of ministry Pastor Chad should be an expert at evangelism, bringing new people into faith, right? So why does he struggle with even the idea of evangelism? Pastor Chad like many of us has encountered evangelism strategies gone wrong, if using these strategies is what evangelism means he wants no part of it! Our focus text this week provides an alternative to those strategies, an alternative that actually models the way Christ brought people to faith through an encounter with the unexpected. The jailer expected Paul and the disciples to run away when the walls of the prison crumbled, instead they stayed and spared the life of the jailer. It was this unexpected mercy that inspired the jailer to learn more about the God Paul was praising in the open cell. Pastor Chad would much rather show God's grace, mercy, and compassion to our neighbors than stand on a street corner shouting a sales pitch based in fear & obligation to a community that does not need any more fear or obligation or a consumer grade faith.
Have you ever been labeled? A bookworm. A slob. An All-Star. A jerk. A genius. Have you ever labeled someone else? We are often quick to assign labels based on our point of view, without knowing their story. This week Pastor Stephanie continues our exploration of August’s focus: “Renewed Spirit” with a look at Paul’s letter to the Ephesians where he reminds them that their previous labels no longer apply, their identity as beloved Child of God is the only label that matters. And with that identity we are called to see others not by the labels we assign them but as God sees them: as beloved children created in God’s image.
Kicking off our focus for August: “Renewed Spirit” Pastor Stephanie explores the story of Moses and the Burning Bush. Understanding Moses’ story helps us better understand our own reluctance to take the first step into following the calling God has given each of us. Like Moses, God doesn’t accept our excuses and instead equips us with the skills and partners needed to accomplish the tasks at hand. Moses can be an example of daring to take that first step into the unknown with a Renewed Spirit by placing our trust in God.
As we wrap up our focus for July: “Come to the Water” Pastor Chad offers a different perspective on the Story of Noah and the Flood that helps us better understand God, the stories of our faith and our place in them. If we look at the Flood without the sanitized for Sunday School depiction of a smiling Noah exiting the Ark with pairs of happy animals walking out under a cheery rainbow we can see God’s compassion. God is absent from the story for the 40 days of rain and a year of floating on lifeless waters, why? Pastor Chad shares insight from a Rabbinical Student who suggests the grief God experienced over the destruction of Creation was so great that even God couldn’t face the survivors of the Flood. After a year though, God rejoins the story and is determined never to destroy the earth again and makes a promise to all Creation to that effect, a Covenant that is sealed with the rainbow. It is in the story of Noah and the Flood that God models for us that with persistence it is possible to come back from paralyzing despair of broken relationships and grief.
As we continue our focus for July: “Come to the Water” Pastor Chad helps us understand why Jesus’s Baptism was such a big deal, especially for the people of his day. The Jewish tradition and most religious traditions of the time divided the universe into three distinct tiers: heaven, earth, and the underworld. And there were barriers that kept them separated. In Jesus’ Baptism the barrier between heaven and earth, God and humanity, is opened or in Mark’s Gospel: “Shattered.” While we have a much more complex understanding of the universe (we’ve shot beyond the heavens into space to see far off galaxies and dug deep into the earth’s crust) this is still an important moment for us. It is a reminder that God is not confined to the heavens but is here among us working to bring hope to creation. It is also in Jesus’ Baptism that we hear important words from God. Before Jesus has begun his ministry, before any miracles, before his death & resurrection God proclaims his identity as “Beloved.” We share that identity with Christ and we too are claimed by God not because of, or in spite of, anything we do but “just as we are for who we are.”
As we continue our focus for July: “Come to the Water” Pastor Stephanie reflects on the story of Peter and Jesus Walking on Water. Oftentimes we can focus on society’s push for competence in all that we do. Being vulnerable enough to admit you can’t do something & need help is seen as shameful. The story of Peter is a reminder that God is always there to grab onto when we are sinking in over our head.
As we continue our focus for July: “Come to the Water” Pastor Stephanie reminds us of how much goes by unnoticed in our lives. Most of the people present for Jesus’ first miracle didn’t even notice, they were too busy enjoying the wedding party. Too often we are so wrapped up in our own busyness we miss the ways God is at work all round us. Pastor Stephanie invites make space, whether that’s by the water like she was doing over the Fourth or just finding a quiet corner at home or work, to slow down and take notice.
Sometimes we drop the ball, we make mistakes, we trip & fall. When it happens we want a do-over, an opportunity to prove ourselves, a second chance. But how often do we offer others a second chance? And sometimes we can’t face our own failure, deny ourselves a second chance, and look for someone or something to blame. Today’s focus text comes from the very end of the Bible; Revelation 22 offers a vision of God’s Kingdom that is built on second chances. In the beginning, Adam & Eve made a mistake eating the fruit of a tree and in Revelation it is a tree that brings healing to the nations. This vision is a reminder that following in the way God intends is built on second chances, second chances for humanity, second chances for our neighbors, second chances for our loved ones, and second chances for ourselves.
For the month of June we have been exploring Prayer. Pastor Stephanie wraps up this focus with a look at another Psalm of King David, Psalm 139. Pastor Stephanie and family were enjoying some time at Itasca State Park last weekend when she recorded this message about finding space and time to be in prayer. Psalm 139 gives us permission to be real in our prayers to God, we can be assured that no matter what we say (whisper, scream, or cuss) to God, God already knows it, and God loves us and will continue to love us because we are fearfully & wonderfully made! Pastor Stephanie encourages us all to find some time and space to reflect on the idea that we are “Fearfully & Wonderfully Made” and then have an authentic conversation with the God who made us!
For the month of June we will be exploring Prayer. This week Pastor Chad invites us to consider the prayer of Psalm 150. It is more than a Psalm of Praise, it transcends language reminding us that praising God isn’t constrained to words but we can praise God in music. And if we can praise God in music we can praise God in other things we do. Pastor Chad extends this idea to include all that we do being an opportunity to praise God. This understanding of Psalm 150 can help us break down our barriers between the Sacred and the Secular, between what we do in church and what we do out in the world, it is an invitation to view your vocation as just as holy as those of us working for the church. Psalm 150 is a prayer that reminds us that everything is sacred because God is present in everything!
For the month of June we will be exploring Prayer. This week Pastor Stephanie helps us explore Psalm 51 the text of a familiar hymn for those raised in the Lutheran tradition. It was written by King David as a prayer to God after he recognized his failings, having an affair with Bathsheba that led to the murder of her husband. David knew what he did was so terrible that God would be right to abandon him but he still prayed asking for God’s mercy. And God did have mercy on David, he remained in leadership as the King of Israel even after all he had done. It wasn’t the prayer that brought that about it was purely God’s grace, God loved David and God loves us. God’s grace is there for us, too, even when we feel like God would be right to abandon us. God is there for us and in prayer we can speak with God even when we don’t have the words to express our needs, our repentance, and our thanksgiving.
For the month of June we will be exploring Prayer. Pastor Chad invites us to consider our relationship with prayer. When thinking about what we were taught about prayer he gets some help from some friends in the Early Childhood Center. How has what we were taught held up as we got older? Then we are asked why we pray. Are we trying to bend God’s will in our favor? In this week’s text Jesus teaches the disciples, and us, how & why to pray. We pray together as part of a community that God’s vision for creation might be fulfilled on earth, we pray that we would play our role in restoring relationships and meeting the pressing needs of our neighbors.
As we wrap up our MOMENTUM theme and our final focus “Embracing Transitions” we explore the Pentecost Story. Pentecost is an interesting counterpoint to last week’s Tower of Babel story, this week different languages gather people instead of scattering them. While we may not be able to speak other languages we can still speak of God’s love through our actions and the common languages of our passions, skills, and hobbies. Finding common ground with our neighbors through a shared interest allows us to share the love of God without the barriers of speaking about faith that can separate us.
As we wrap up our MOMENTUM theme we move to our final focus “Embracing Transitions” an appropriate topic as some major life transitions occur in this season: graduations, weddings, new jobs, and new homes. This week Pastor Chad compares navigating these life transitions to navigating country roads. We spend a lot of time and effort avoiding the ditches of life (e.g. falling behind in your career advancement) that we choose to focus on and often then end up in the opposite ditch (e.g. stress, exhaustion, not having time for family). The Tower of Babel is not as much about the origin of different languages as it is about focusing on one ditch (a new technology, bricks, offering stability & security to a growing community) and ending up in the other ditch (disconnected from God). This story, like many in Genesis, is about falling out of balance focusing on the newest, best, most powerful item and losing sight of God’s dream for Creation & the role we are called to play in it! Gathering as a community of faith helps push us out of the ditches of life and back onto the road of life as God intended.
As we wrap up our MOMENTUM theme we move to our final focus “Embracing Transitions” an appropriate topic as some major life transitions occur in this season: graduations, weddings, new jobs, and new homes. This week Pastor Stephanie is working with another text from Ecclesiastes that follows a similar theme to last week’s text. If we cannot script out our lives because life is unpredictable then we should enjoy life while we can before it’s gone! That is the idea of this week’s text, we should seize the day because we don’t know when we will die. Pastor Stephanie to live into God’s intention for us by seizing the day, loving fiercely, taking chances, making mistakes, getting messy, eating, drinking, and being merry!
As we wrap up our MOMENTUM theme we move to our final focus “Embracing Transitions” an appropriate topic as some major life transitions occur in this season: graduations, weddings, new jobs, and new homes. We like to celebrate these milestones but there’s also life transitions happening that we don’t look forward to: injuries or illness, lay-offs, divorce, and even death. Pastor Chad preaches on the focus text for this month: Ecclesiastes 8 which reminds us that there is a time & season for everything, the things we dream of and the things that we dread. During the difficult seasons of life it is easy to look to the comfort of the past or the day-dreams of a better future. Ecclesiastes reminds us that whatever season of life you find yourself in, God walks with us and calls us to walk with each other by being fully present in the struggles and the joys.
As we continue our Easter Season focus “Trusting Together” Pastor Stephanie admits she has struggled with the focus text for this week. Was God really asking Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac? Hadn’t God just promised Abraham and Sarah that they would be the start of a great nation as numerous as the stars? The story isn’t that we should be willing to kill because God said so but it is about trust in God when faced with hard things in life. Abraham trusted in the promises so much that he was willing to sacrifice all he had. Isaac trusted in his father’s word that “God would provide” even as he was tied up on an altar. That kind of trust is not easy to come by, but Pastor Stephanie suggests that is easier together! Like working a puzzle without the box for reference, it is easier when we work together and can each see the pieces of the puzzle of life from a different perspective.
As we continue our Easter Season focus “Trusting Together” Pastor Chad invites us to consider what it takes to be the “Best of the Best.” For most things we can think of: athletes, actors, singers, and even investors, it takes years of experience and practice to become the Best of the Best. Our focus text features the Best of the Best in Prophets from the Old Testament: Elijah. What makes Elijah the best is not years of practice but his trust in the word of God. Elijah escapes to the wilderness where ravens provide him the food needed to survive just as God had told him. Elijah trusts God’s promise again when he asks a widow on the brink of starvation to feed him because God said the widow’s flour and oil supply would be enough and not run out until the drought in the land ended. God used the widow’s situation to open Elijah’s eyes to the suffering of his community which is ultimately made him the best of the best. Pastor Chad asks us to open our eyes to the suffering of our community so that we might become the Best of the Best in following the way God intends.
As we move into the Easter Season our focus moves to “Trusting Together.” Trust is important, when we hear a story that seems too good to be true we often demand of the storyteller “Prove it!” This week we hear the familiar story of “Doubting Thomas” who can’t believe the news that Jesus is alive and demands proof. Pastor Stephanie reminds us that Thomas was merely asking for the same proof the other disciples had experienced. The other disciples did not believe Mary’s story of her encounter with Jesus at the tomb until they saw Jesus standing among them. Without Jesus appearing before us our faith is dependent on trusting the promises of God and experiencing glimpses of those promises in the community around us.
Our exploration of our focus for Lent: “Beautiful Brokenness” wraps up with the most beautiful thing to come out of brokenness: the promise of New Life in Christ. The disciples’ expectations of a leader who would overthrow the Romans and fulfill the promise of return of the Kingdom were broken when Jesus was executed. But, there was New Life in the grave where the women expected to find the broken body of their teacher and friend. The disciples’ shattered expectations made it nearly impossible to believe the women’s news of the beauty they experienced. Pastor Chad reminds us that we, too, find the Good News hard to believe until we have an experience where we encounter the beauty of the Risen Christ for ourselves.
As we continue our exploration of our focus for Lent: “Beautiful Brokenness” Pastor Stephanie recalls a shattered plate which no amount of glue and patience could put back together. Sometimes we feel like our lives have been shattered and no amount of our own effort can repair the damage. Our focus text for this week reminds us that like the potter reshaping a failed piece into something beautiful, God is at work reshaping us, no matter how badly shattered we are, into something more beautiful.
As we continue our exploration of our focus for Lent: “Beautiful Brokenness” Pastor Chad talks about bones. When we are at our most broken we can feel like a pile of dry bones. How could this pile of bones ever live again? It’s the question the Prophet Ezekiel asks of God for the Israelites who have been left defeated, deported, and life-less. God’s response brings hope to the Israelites and offers us hope when we feel like dry bones. Hope does not come easy, it takes encountering others who have found hope and it takes practice! When our faith is put into practice and we believe, even just a little, in the hope of God’s promises it is like new life in breathed into us.
As we continue our exploration of our focus for Lent: “Beautiful Brokenness” Pastor Chad talks about heroes. More specifically broken heroes. When we are young we look up to the adults in our lives as infallible superheroes, as we gain more experience we recognize that our heroes are human and are inevitably broken falling short of our lofty expectations. We might turn to organizations expecting them to be too big to fail, but they do because they are run by broken humans. What can we do if the heroes and institutions in our life are all broken?! Pastor Chad encourages us to start with ourselves, admit that we too are broken and fail to live up to expectations. When we acknowledge our brokenness and own the consequences of that brokenness, we can work towards healing. But it is only by God’s grace alone that we can truly move forward.
As we continue our exploration of our focus for Lent: “Beautiful Brokenness” Pastor Stephanie helps us find beauty in the first story of brokenness, The Temptation of Adam & Eve. This origin story is also the origin of blame. When they are caught by God, having disobeyed the one simple commandment, they are quick to deflect blame, to find a scapegoat. Pastor Stephanie returns to last week’s story of the Woman caught in Adultery, to remind us how Jesus viewed scapegoating. None of us are without blame, it is in accepting responsibility for our own words, actions, or inaction that we can begin to rebuild the broken into something beautiful.
Pastor Chad begins our exploration of our focus for Lent: "Beautiful Brokenness" by asking what we do with the broken things in our life. He then reminds us of what God does time & again with what society says should be thrown out!
One of the ideas behind Momentum was exploring less familiar biblical stories to gain new insight to our faith. Throughout the year there are a number of familiar stories that when examined from a different angle offer a fresh set of insights. As we continue to explore our focus for February “Steadfast Resilience” we encounter a story that is used in the rotation of preaching texts regularly: “Jesus and the Syrophoenician Woman.” Often when preaching on this text pastors will focus on Jesus reaching out across barriers of race & creed to bring healing. That’s usually Pastor Chad’s take on this text as he encountered it many times in his 16 years of preaching. But using the lens of “Steadfast Resiliency” opened a whole new perspective on the story. The steadfast persistence of the woman models spiritual resiliency that helps us recognize the need for persistence in our daily lives as we encounter challenges to the idea of faith that have been ingrained in our understanding of how God works in this world.
What does Star Wars Episode IV have to do with our focus for February "Steadfast Resiliency"? It's in the subtitle! "A New HOPE!" The rag-tag remnants of the rebellion can see defeat approaching on the horizon. What stands in the way of the Empire? Hope! Hope that Princess Leia’s message will find it’s way to Obi-Wan and the information that can stop the Empire’s reign of terror will reach the rebels in time. Sometimes resiliency means clinging to hope for a better future. The woman in our focus text for this week has nothing but hope. Being ‘unclean’ has separated her from her family, her community, and her future. Her hope is in stories she had heard of the healing power of Jesus. Like the women in our focus text last week she takes a risk to pursue this hope. She reaches out to touch just the fringe of Jesus’ cloak with hope that it will bring healing that will reconnect her with her family and community and restore the dreams she has for the future! In the text Jesus repeatedly “gets his hands dirty” interacting with those society calls ‘unclean’ offering us hope that Jesus is reaching out to us even when we think we are untouchable!
As we move into our next Momentum focus: "Steadfast Resiliency" we hear the story of three women who each found resiliency in overcoming the challenges they faced in the story of Moses. The mother of Moses and his sister both used skills of resiliency to overcome Pharaoh's decree that all Hebrew baby boys should be thrown in the river. Their actions and the actions of Pharaoh's daughter not only saved Moses from certain death but also kept him connected to his family and people.
As we continue to explore Momentum through some less familiar stories of our faith we come to a story from the Book of Esther. Esther is a unique book of the Bible for one reason: throughout the books ten chapters . . . God is Silent! In all the other books of the Bible, God is heard, seen, and experienced. So why even include it in the Bible if it doesn’t tell us about God?!? Pastor Chad appreciates the Book of Esther because it helps us remember that even when God is seemingly silent in our lives, hope remains. It is a reminder that even in the silent moments of our lives God is present. Even Jesus experienced God’s silence when on the cross he cries out “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Knowing that Queen Esther had hope (faith) that her plan to save the people of Israel would work without hearing from God gives us hope that even when we don’t hear God’s voice we can have faith to carry on. And this is why a book that doesn’t mention God is such an important part of our faith story.
Part of the idea behind our theme of Momentum was to explore some less familiar stories of our faith to help expand our understanding of God’s work in the world throughout the ages. This week’s story is actually pretty familiar even for those with little exposure to the biblical story: David & Goliath. This story has even become part of pop culture, referenced in all sorts of movies, especially sports movies where an underdog is going up against the champion. Pastor Stephanie is quick to remind us that we all face our own Goliaths in life, and acknowledges that we don’t always defeat them. Does this mean God is not with us? No. In Jesus, God knows what is like to be an underdog, up against some of the most powerful people and organizations of the day! It even looked like his Goliath had won as Jesus’ dead body was put in the tomb. But like any good sports movie, the underdog claims victory in miraculous fashion! The Good News is Jesus invites us to claim the miracle victory over death for ourselves assuring that in the end all the Goliaths we have faced in life will have fallen to the ground!
The cheap seats are great for passive spectators. They are the safe choice. They are a place to go unnoticed. They are NOT where God calls us to be! In the stories of our faith God is equipping those who take a risk to be vulnerable. King Josiah was a young man when he heard about the covenant God made with the people of Israel, an agreement that many kings before him had ignored & forgotten. Ignoring God’s call was the cheap seats, an easy choice for kings who were more interested in their own wealth & power than the vitality of their subjects. King Josiah made the choice to “get in the game.” Being in the game means being vulnerable, being willing to learn & grow, opening your ears & heart to the needs of your neighbor and it is in the game that God will empower us to fill roles in bringing God’s vision for our community to life.
Parents know the unique panic that sets in when your child escapes your attention momentarily and goes 'missing' in the middle of a busy shopping mall or park. The Bible Story uses as we begin exploring our next Momentum focus “Humble Empowerment” tells of the time tween-age Jesus goes missing for three days! Even Mary, the woman chosen by God to birth & raise the Savior, has moments that humble her as a parent. Jesus is not missing or lost, he is right where he is meant to be: in God’s House soaking in the Word of God. And that is the Good News: God is never missing or lost, even if we find ourselves searching & seeking, God is right where God promises to be: right beside us!
Christmas light displays have always fascinated Pastor Stephanie. But why are they part of our celebration of Jesus’ birth? In the Gospel of John, we hear that Jesus came into the world to be “the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.” This is the Good News of Christmas: Jesus came into the world to shine God’s love into the darkest corners of our life. So take some time to enjoy the lights remembering our unexpected savior who came into an unprepared world to shine!
Do you ever find yourself loving a song but not really knowing the lyrics? Has a song’s appeal changed once you dug into the lyrics, for better or worse? This week Pastor Chad invites us to consider a popular song from the Bible. We will explore how Mary’s Song (The Magnificat) turns expectations upside down. An unmarried teen and an old woman have both failed to meet the expectations of their community and yet God has called them blessed. In Mary’s poetic response, she continues to sing about how God’s vision is the opposite of the world’s idea of power, influence, and blessing! When we understand the lyrics of The Magnificat we discover hope that is unexpected especially as we try, and often fail, to meet the expectations of the world.
Be prepared. It’s often the message shared with the focus text for this week: The Parable of the Bridesmaids. As we continue to explore “Imperfect Hospitality” Pastor Stephanie has a different take on the “foolish bridesmaids.” Perhaps what made them foolish was not running our of oil for their lamps but their focus on a secondary concern. The bridesmaids primary role was to welcome the bridal party to the celebration. By focusing on their lamps and running off to refuel them they missed the arrival of the bridegroom. Pastor Stephanie encourages us to remember our primary concern: loving God and loving our neighbors as ourselves. Providing the hospitality of a warm welcome to our neighbors is an expression of love and providing for the stranger is reflection of God’s love. As we ready our homes & hearts to welcome the baby Jesus we remember that Christmas is not about being prepared but about being present!
Why does Pastor Chad feel old? He’s just barely over-the-hill. He’s healthy. He’s younger than most of us watching! It has to do with the disconnect that comes from a brain that developed in the stone age having access to an overload of information thanks to modern technology. We have instant access to news of every tragedy, natural disaster, and human shortcoming without the ability to take action like our fight-or-flight brain is built for. The result is perpetual anxiety and exhaustion. In the focus text we hear how Rahab, a woman without any power but a trust in the power of God, was able to take a small action that made a big difference. She offered hospitality to strangers, to spies in her homeland. This is just one of the biblical stories in which small acts of hospitality make a big impact when grounded in a trust of God’s promises. Pastor Chad suggests that by taking action in the form of hospitality to the stranger, those who are on the outside, the oppressed, those in need, we are trusting that God will do great things through our small actions.
As we move into Advent, we move into a new focus "Imperfect Hospitality." Hospitality is all about the welcome we offer our guests. All too often we think everything must be perfect, perfectly clean home, perfectly prepared meal, perfectly curated playlist, perfectly behaved children & pets, perfectly dressed to the nines, simply perfect. The story of the Hospitality of Abraham reminds us that God is not in search of the perfect. Pastor Stephanie invites to embrace the imperfect, to welcome our guests "just as they are, for who they are" and to do it "just as we are" not stressing over the condition of our home, the quality of the meal, or the clothes we are wearing. We should be more ready to offer Imperfect Hospitality because what matters is the conversations, connections, and being real together: imperfections and all!
Some people are generous only out of a sense of obligation, as if sharing was another chore to be checked off. This week’s focus text shares the story of Hannah’s Song. Hannah thought she was doomed to one of the worst fates for a woman of her time: infertility. When she does give birth to a son, her response is a piece of poetry praising God. It is in this song that we see her generosity, dedicating her son’s life to service in the Temple, is not out of obligation but is grounded in gratitude. Pastor Chad invites us to remember the sense of gratitude we often experience in “That could have been so bad!” moments, like a narrow escape of an accident on an icy South Dakota highway. Generosity that flows from Intentional Gratitude is part of living a life of faith as God intended!
Happiness is big business! As a culture we are constantly seeking out the secret to happiness. Marketers play off our desire for happiness, with companies suggesting that the key to happiness is found in their self-help book, their vehicle, their soft drink! But what happens when life gets tough, when the happiness fades, when you're wandering in the desert? Pastor Chad reminds us that the STORY of our faith does not focus on finding happiness but on living with gratitude. Living with a sense of gratitude persists even when happiness is elusive. Remembering the gifts God has given us with Intentional Gratitude makes use of the MOMENTUM of God's STORY to propel us into COMMUNITY that is sent into SERVICE for our neighbor.
We began a new focus of our MOMENTUM theme this week: Intentional Gratitude. Throughout the year we are exploring some less familiar parts of our Faith STORY, as we seek out the Gospel, the Good News of God, found throughout the entire Bible. This week we explore meet Ebenezer, not Mr. Scrooge, but the “Stone of Help” that the prophet Samuel raised up. It was to be a reminder of the help God provided them in defeating the occupying army of the Philistines. It was a sign of gratitude. As we commemorate All Saints Day we remember those Saints who have served as Stone of Help, an Ebenezer, in our lives. They are a reminder to receive with Intentional Gratitude the Help of God.
Pastor Chad invites us to continue exploring the theme of forgiveness in the story of Joseph's "Uncharted Journey". Last week Pastor Stephanie spoke about how forgiving someone isn't about them, it's about us as it frees us from the chains of that hurt allowing us to move forward into the future God intends for us. This week Pastor Chad focuses on the other side of forgiveness, about asking for forgiveness. He suspects others, like him, find it difficult to ask for forgiveness, not because we are unrepentant but because we fear the other person won't accept our apology. Our relationships with others are some of the most fragile things in life. Forgiveness can be the glue needed to repair those relationship that have been broken by our words & actions. Being part of the bigger STORY of our Faith Joseph's story has something to teach us about addressing the needs of our world and of our lives, in this case: the power of forgiveness!
If your brothers plotted to kill you, threw you in a pit, and sold you into slavery could you forgive them? Joseph’s Uncharted Journey takes another turn as his brothers, who expected Joseph to be long gone, end up in Pharaoh’s court under the judgement of Joseph. In the 22 years since they last saw each other, the power dynamic has reversed, the young boy who was thrown in a pit is now unrecognizable as the man who is second-in-command of a powerful kingdom. He easily could have taken everything they had & sent them to prison but instead forgives them & provides for them. Joseph realized that holding a grudge would only have tightened the chains of that past trauma inflicted by his brothers. By forgiving them he was able to realize that what they did no longer overpowered him, he was now free of the chains that held him back and he could truly be the person God created him to be! Pastor Stephanie helps us realize, that just like Joseph, forgiveness is about freeing ourselves from the chains that hold us back from being all that God is calling us to be.
Where will we find Joseph on this Uncharted Journey? Last week he was unjustly accused and thrown into prison. This week his journey takes another unexpected turn going from prisoner to second-in-command over all of Egypt! Was Joseph blessed because he was keeping up his side of the contract with God? When we try to understand biblical stories as being all about God’s Covenants with people, we fall into the trap that it is as simple as: “Do Good – Be Blessed. Do Bad – Be Cursed”. Because we have followed his entire journey, not just his high points of receiving his Coat of Many Colors and now finding favor with Pharaoh, we know that God has been with Joseph through it all including in the pit, in slavery, & in prison. A mature faith knows that even when we feel like God has forsaken us, God is with us in the darkness hearing our laments and calling us to bring reassurance of this presence to others who find themselves on the top of the world or in their own dark pit.
As we continue to explore our theme of Momentum, we turn to a new story focus for October: Uncharted Journey follows the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis. This week Pastor Stephanie has us considering the power dynamics at play in Joseph’s journey. Being a slave what little power Joseph has due to his gifts for management are eclipsed by the power of mere accusations made by his owner’s wife. Today we are no stranger to similar struggles between the powerful & the powerless. Joseph’s rollercoaster journey continues from being sold as a slave to being the trusted manager of a powerful household to being wrongfully accused & thrown into prison. Is there any hope for the powerless? Pastor Stephanie reminds us of God’s promise to be with us on our Uncharted Journey as God’s presence is mentioned more in this small segment of Joseph’s journey than in all the rest of the story spanning chapters of Genesis. God is our constant companion on this Uncharted Journey!
As we continue to explore our theme of Momentum, we turn to a new story focus for October: Uncharted Journey as we follow the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis. Pastor Chad asks us to think about the start of Joseph’s journey as he goes from being his father’s favorite son to being sold into slavery. It is certainly not the path Joseph had dreamed of but was it the path God set him on? Is God a puppet master pulling strings to steer Joseph into the hands of his brothers who intend to kill him, or into the pit where he is alone, or into the hands of slave traders? Are you on an unfortunate path because God wants you to suffer? Or is your good life because God pulled some strings in your favor? Pastor Chad reminds us that our God is not altering our path in life, for better or for worse, but rather is keeping a promise to accompany us on whatever twist & turn our path takes!
‘Cancel Culture’ is a hot button topic, and too often it assumes redemption is impossible. Today’s focus text tells the story of God using a seemingly unredeemable persecutor of the disciples to do great things. Saul was literally hunting down the followers of Jesus when he has an encounter with Jesus that changes his course. The disciple Ananias despises Saul for all the pain caused to his fellow members of The Way, but his trust in God’s plan was stronger than his hate for those who were persecuting him. While we may not be so willing to offer second chances to those who have wronged us, God is willing to forgive us and will use us to do great things in the world that bring about God’s vision for Creation. In the Momentum of this Story we can find “Believable Belonging” trusting that even as God knows all our failings we are not cancelled but renewed & redeemed as Children of God.
Life isn’t a ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ Book. We don’t get to choose the circumstances or the outcomes in our lives. And we don’t usually get an opportunity to go back and make a different choice for a better outcome. As much as we want to have control over our lives the reality is our lives are full of peaks of great joy and valleys of great grief that enter our lives unexpectedly. This week Pastor Chad explores the unexpected journey of Ruth. Circumstances lead Naomi and Ruth on a path that they would never choose to be on. While Ruth didn’t choose the path, she did choose to make the best of the circumstances. She choose to follow Naomi into a foreign & hostile land because she found belonging with Naomi and her trust & hope in the God of Israel.
Where do you belong?
As we kick-off a new year of learning with a new theme we are using the Momentum of knowing God’s Story to find our Community that is then sent out in Service to our neighbors. This month we will be exploring Believable Belonging. Pastor Stephanie invites us to consider where we find belonging. How does our understanding of God’s calling us Children of God help us define the Community in which we all belong? Are we responding to peer pressures or are we in Community based on our shared identity as children of God?
Is it worth it?
Jesus tells his disciples: “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” So, have you done the cost-benefit analysis of following Jesus? Is it worth it? While hating your family is certainly hyperbole used for emphasis the cost is still great! Following Jesus means you will lose things you may hold dear: your black & white sense of fairness, your understanding of hierarchy, your neat little boxes used to contain your world. The cost of discipleship is everything that isn’t grounded in the unconditional love, grace, mercy, and compassion of God’s Kingdom. It is a high cost and the benefit is a world where everyone experiences and shares unconditional love, grace, mercy, and compassion as God intended!
In a world obsessed with status & power it is easy to see everyone else as your competition. In this week’s Gospel Jesus shares a story that reshapes our understanding of power. The Kingdom of God turns our worldly understanding upside down, those who exalt themselves are humbled and the humble are exalted. Pastor Chad invites us to let this story change the way we see and interact with the world, our community, and ourselves. How will your life be changed when you see your neighbor not as your competition but rather as a fellow Child of God?
Are you a Rule Follower? Or a Rule Breaker? In this week’s Gospel Jesus is a Rule Breaker! Pastor Stephanie reminds us that sometimes in order to “Do the Right Thing” we have to break some rules or social norms that get in the way. It truly is good news that God remains willing to break the rules in order to extend us healing and love when the world says we don’t deserve it!
What Race are you 'Running'? Even if you are not running a marathon, or 5K, or any literal race, you have a challenge in front of you that requires stamina. This week Pastor Stephanie reminds us that no matter the 'race' we're running we have the support of a "great cloud of witnesses" cheering us on, supporting us, and even pacesetting. So when we 'hit the wall' and don't think we can continue we can count on the faith community to be there for us!
There’s a lot of jargon, thrown around in our modern world. We seem to be very fond of acronyms and made up words that are meaningless to anyone outside our line of work. The same could be said for our modern interpretation of the biblical story. In this week’s Gospel there are two catchphrases that Pastor Chad invites us to look at differently. With a little different perspective, the words move from tools used to judge others to life-giving words of hope!
Inheritance can be a tricky thing. Many of us would love to inherit a fortune because things in this world cost money, right! But they can also cause strain on family relationships, deepen our sense of greed, and take our focus from the more important things in life! Pastor Stephanie reminds us that our most important inheritance is one that cannot be taken from us like wealth. As Children of God we have the opportunity to make a difference in this world that will outlast any material wealth.
There is a wide range of experiences and beliefs surrounding prayer among those with a faith tradition, including Christians. This week Pastor Chad shares how The Lord’s Prayer helped change his perspective on prayer. Jesus was teaching his disciples a lot more than a simple prayer to recite from memory, sometimes in a single breath! Jesus uses the simple prayer to teach the disciples, and us, what the world could be like if we lived into God’s vision for Creation. The prayer is also a call to action inviting us into helping build the kind of community God desires for us all. What seems like a simple prayer can change your whole perspective!
So many words! Words that shape a story. Words that can distort a story. Words that can inspire. Words that can harm. Today Pastor Chad invites us to consider the words that Jesus used. Words that formed a powerful story. A story so powerful it caused Mary to stop what she was doing, what was expected of her, what her sister continued to do. The story stopped Mary in her tracks so that she could listen to Jesus continue the story, a story that she was now a character in. When we stop and listen to God’s story we find ourselves in the story. Seeing ourselves in the story changes us and inspires us to share God’s story with others. We can share the story with our words but more importantly with our actions that help others find themselves part of God’s story!
Who is my neighbor? This week Pastor Stephanie helps us explore the Story of the Good Samaritan to better understand God’s definition of a neighbor. Sometimes in life we get too focused on our own path to recognize our neighbor’s need passing them by. Sometimes we don’t stop to help because we don’t know what to do. Sometimes we think that the person in need doesn’t deserve our help because they are an outsider not our neighbor. At other times our lives are going so well we forget that we should also identify with the man who was robbed in need of rescue. When we recognize that Jesus is the Samaritan in the story, we both recognize our call to stop, change our focus, & help those in need (even if they would be considered more of an outsider than a neighbor by the world’s definition), and our own need for God’s help. Mr Rogers was right: It IS a beautiful day for a Neighbor!
Social Media can be a wonderful tool for connecting with family, friends, and the world around us. It can also be a home to misinformation, hatred, and otherwise nasty comments. Sometimes engaging others online feels like being a lamb amongst wolves. At other times we get trapped in the algorithm that surrounds us with posts that match our beliefs. We are mistaken when we think we can change someone else’s viewpoint by posting our own that we believe to be the only viewpoint thanks to the curating of our newsfeed by the algorithm. In the Gospel text this week, followers of Jesus are sent out into the world “like lambs into the midst of wolves.” Jesus knows that they won’t always be welcomed and when that happens advises them to go into the street and say, “Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.” Sometimes in life we need to recognize when we are not welcome and rather than try and force our way into the lives of others we need to shake off our feet and walk away. We trust that the Kingdom of God has come near and that God is working even when our attempts fail. When the followers return they are excited about the power of God that was at work through them. Jesus tells them, “Do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” When we live into the joy of our salvation, by sharing love, grace & compassion, we are far better witnesses to the love of God than when we focus on the other person’s salvation. Even if we need to shake off the dust & give up on a person who rejects us, God, or God’s message, the Good News is that God never gives up!
What do you do? What do you make? How do you use your gifts & passions? Is it a ‘Higher Calling’? We might be too quick to dismiss our career, vocation, or work as unworthy of being a Higher Calling, thinking it is a title reserved for religious professionals. In the Gospel reading for today, Jesus’ disciples learn that following Jesus has a high cost. Jesus’ harsh, hyperbolic words might seem to reinforce the idea that being a disciple is only for those willing to accept a Higher Calling. Pastor Chad argues that Jesus was reinforcing the cost of not using your skills, gifts, & passions to serve your community as Jesus calls us each to do. The cost is a broken community where our neighbors go hungry, unloved, alone, or even homeless. And we miss out on the opportunity to experience the joy & fulfillment that comes from generosity & sharing. Whether you are a mechanic, a farmer, or a caregiver you too have a Higher Calling: as a Disciple of Jesus!
What are you afraid of? In today’s message Pastor Stephanie shares a scary story from the Gospel of Luke about a man who was possessed by demons and cast out of his community to wander the cemetery. His community used the God’s Law as a weapon to exclude him from their community. God’s Law isn’t intended to be policed by the faithful but is rather a guide to being a community living the abundant life God intends for us all! When Jesus extends God’s grace to the man casting out the demons, it removes the barrier that was separating him from the life God intended. Those that witnessed this healing miracle were upset that Jesus dared share God’s love with a man who they ‘knew’ was being punished for not following their understanding of God’s Law. Paul’s letter to the Galatians reminds us that faith in Christ has freed us from the fear of the Law so that we might follow God’s plan to live as an intentional community sharing God’s love. Moving from the boundaries of a black & white understanding of Law to the freedom of Faith embracing God’s presence in the gray areas between our human imposed divisions moves us from fear to grace. Special thanks to Emma and Alex, students on the Sr High Service Learning Trip to Colorado for reading the preaching texts for this week.
This week we celebrate Holy Trinity Sunday. The Trinity, Father—Son—Holy Spirit, being one God is difficult to describe without diminishing the power of each ‘Person’ within the Trinity or dividing the power of the One True God. Perhaps it is best left as a mystery of our faith. While we can’t comprehend God’s complete being, we do have God’s gift of Wisdom. Walking through the mysteries, uncertainties and darkness of this life is easier knowing the light of God shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it. We are blessed with the knowledge that God is at work amidst all of the chaos of life, even when we have lost all control God is at work and remains at our side. The wisdom we gain through the Holy Spirit can help us find things in which to delight, so that we can embrace life the way God always intended!
Pentecost is the church holiday that remembers the Spirit of God descending on the followers of Jesus after he had ascended to Heaven. The Spirit empowered the disciples to share the good news of God’s Kingdom in the native languages of the diverse crowd gathered in Jerusalem. It’s worth celebrating, certainly, but is the Spirit of God still active in our world today? If God is still active why wasn’t the shooter stopped before he entered the school or why were those in places of authority in the Southern Baptist Conference allowed to continue their abuse? Thinking that a miracle is the only solution is a flaw in our understanding of the work of the Spirit. The Spirit empowers us to be the mechanism of God’s action within our community. When we recognize this transformation we can experience the true joy, regardless of circumstances, that comes from a deep connection with God and our neighbors.
Throughout the year we have been hearing from members of the Bethlehem Community as an opportunity to hear how God's Story has resonated with our neighbor and hopefully finding some resonance between our story and theirs. In our final Story of Resonance we hear, appropriately, from a Physics Teacher who knows a thing or two about resonance. Charles Miller can explain and demonstrate resonance in the world of physics but what does it have to do with faith? A lot! Charles uses the example of kayaking on the river. In the turbulent times of life you must have confidence in the promise that God surrounds us with the people and skills needed to make it through. It’s a matter of releasing control and paddling in resonance with the current God has provided. At the same time we are the people God has placed in our neighbors’ life to help set the current. When we are in tune with God’s current in our lives and the lives of our neighbors we find our resonance as the energy (vibrations) from God’s Story and Our Neighbor’s Story increase the energy (impact) of Our Story!
Sometimes in life the words we intend to bring comfort to our loved ones fall flat, or worse, cause more harm than good. This week’s Gospel is filled with what have become Christian buzzwords and depending on where you are at in life may seem to be hollow. So how can we find hope in these words almost seem like God is silent? The Good News is that God is at work even in the silence! In the silence of Holy Saturday, when the Hope of the World was seemingly dead & buried and as the disciples fearfully sat in the silence of grief, God was still at work preparing to bring Hope Overflowing on Easter morning. So, even when the only words we hear are empty, we trust in God’s promise to be with us always, even in the silence!
WARNING: The reading from Acts in worship today is DANGEROUS! It is dangerous to those who insist on keeping their faith practices and understanding the same at all costs. God challenges Peter's understanding of being a disciple by showing him that God's love and salvation is meant for everyone even those that Peter saw as unclean. We too are challenged by God's Call to share the Kingdom with not only those like us but also those on the "other side of the fence" that we too often dismiss as unworthy of compassion. So, after hearing today's message, be prepared to do something dangerous and cross over the barriers that are keeping you from sharing God's love with all the world as God intended!
Voices are distinct. When we recognize a voice we can recall the speaker with great detail. Some voices instill a sense of calm and comfort. This week Jesus says the “sheep” of his flock recognize his voice and are comforted. He also reminds us that there is nothing that can snatch his sheep away from his care. As we continue in this Easter Season we find Jesus, the Good Shepherd, knowing our voice and promising to guide us through even the darkest valleys of our life together, with those promises we discover our Hope Overflowing!
In all the Gospels, the Disciples’ encounters with the resurrected Jesus have a common theme: skepticism. In today’s Gospel lesson Jesus doesn’t try to reason with the Disciples, instead he allows them to experience their resurrected teacher. Encountering Jesus in the everyday experience of their life helps them move from skepticism to trust. In today’s world we may be even more skeptical than the Disciples, having learned to be distrustful through countless interaction with scammers seeking to take advantage of our trust. So how do we overcome our skepticism? In the same way: encountering the Risen Christ. While we don’t sit down to a meal with Jesus, we do interact with our neighbors & friends in moments of caring, listening, forgiveness, and joy that are reflections of Resurrection.
Throughout the year we are hearing from members of the Bethlehem Community as an opportunity to hear how God's Story has resonated with our neighbor and hopefully finding some resonance between our story and theirs. This month, Bill Vossler shares his story of finding resonance with God’s Story again after 18 years away from religion. Bill’s childhood church experience was filled with shame and guilt for sins he didn’t even understand. When his mother remarried, his step-grandmother added to Bill’s fear of God’s wrath and shame for sins of his father (and grandfather, and great-grandfather). Leaving his ancestral hometown and congregation behind Bill didn’t step foot in a church again, except to play basketball, for 18 years until he married Nikki Rajala. Bill started attending Bethlehem with Nikki and found a very different faith community. A community that welcomed Bill just as he was, for who he was and one that focused more attention on God’s love for humanity than the hellfire & brimstone of the apocalypse. We hope that some small part of the Story of God at work in Bill’s life finds resonance with Your Story so that we all might better connect with God and our community!
It’s Easter you know the story. At least you think you do?!? Pastor Chad, has a reminder that even though we think we know the story the details escape us. But are the details important or do they just get in the way? The Gospels all share the same lesson for us told in different ways. The Good News of Easter is that God has not given up on the world. The death sentence Jesus received for opposing the power structure of this world could have been the end of the story. But the Resurrection is a reminder that God’s love for us is so great that even death cannot defeat it! The Resurrection both acknowledges the suffering of this weary world and enables us to move forward into God’s vision for the world to find hope overflowing.
Our journey through Lent continues to explore the theme: “Hope-Full in a Weary World.” Living in a Weary World is not a ‘new thing’ the people of Jesus’ time were also weary. They were weary of Roman occupation and hoped Jesus would be the King to overthrow Caesar’s Empire. But time and again Jesus showed he was a different kind of King with a different kind of Kingdom. Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week. We know the story of Holy Week, we know that Jesus wouldn’t defeat the Empire, rather that he would be falsely-accused, mocked, beaten, and executed by the powerful leaders of his own community. We know that he would be betrayed by one friend, denied by another and abandoned by all of them. We know that the cheers of the crowd welcoming Jesus to Jerusalem would days later turn to shouts for his death. Where is the Hope in these stories? Pastor Stephanie helps us remember that we can view our life as Hope-Full. Hope is found in the love Jesus showed for us all on the Cross. Knowing that he was about to be betrayed by Judas, denied by Peter, and abandoned by the rest of the disciples, Jesus’ love was so great he ate the Last Supper with them. Jesus asked God to forgive those shouting for his death. And Jesus defeated an even greater oppressor than Caesar: sin & death! And therein lies the Hope for that weary world and for ours!
We wrap up our exploration of our theme for Lent “Hope-Full in a Weary World” by looking at Authenticity. In this week’s Gospel Jesus says we are salt and we are light. What?!? It’s not an easy metaphor to understand. Maybe a first-hand experience of the metaphor will help. Matt Metz joins Pastor Chad “In the Kitchen” for an encounter with one part of this metaphor. NOTE: This segment may have been filmed on April 1st! Today we often see our identity tied to things that can change. Your identity as a Project Manager goes away when your department is downsized. Your identity as an athlete lasts only as long as you remain injury-free. Your identity as a wife dissolves along with your marriage in the divorce. Jesus says we ARE salt and light for the world, it’s not something we can become and therefor unbecome. It is part of our identity as children of God that cannot be taken away by circumstances of the world. Our authentic selves boil down to what remains unchanged: we are here to bring out the flavors and colors of God in a world that is worn and weary. It is in that unchanging Authenticity we find Hope!
We continue our exploration of our theme for Lent “Hope-Full in a Weary World” by looking at Wholeness. In this week’s Gospel we hear the story of a woman who had been hunched over for 18 years before Jesus healed her. Pastor Stephanie speaks about Wholeness as being in balance Physically, Emotionally, Mentally and Spiritually. Too often we think of that our lives are missing a piece that is preventing our Wholeness. Pastor Stephanie has had people tell her depression is just a Jesus-sized hole in your heart and that “with Jesus” you will be whistling and dancing your way through life. From a perspective that is Hope-Full we understand that Jesus is not missing from our heart whenever we are depressed or grieving or burnt-out or physically broken. In trusting the promise of God to be with us always we can recognize our Wholeness and find Hope in this weary world!
We continue our exploration of our theme for Lent “Hope-Full in a Weary World” by looking at Rest. Everyone’s life experience is different but we all know the weight of our unique burdens in life. Pastor Chad uses an egg to illustrate the impact of stress on our fragile lives. When we are weary from the weight of the world bearing down on us it is important to find rest. Not necessarily the “do nothing but sit by the pool” of Spring Break but true rest that we find with God. Recalling Jesus’ encounter with Martha & Mary Pastor Chad invites us to be like Mary and find rest in listening. Engaging in active listening to God, to others, to creation and to yourself will help you discover the presence of God in a way that gives rest to your soul. True rest is found by paying attention to that which brings you and those around you life, peace, and ultimately hope in this weary world!
We continue our exploration of our theme for Lent “Hope-Full in a Weary World” by looking at Civility. In life we often have a difference of opinion with our neighbors, like during football season when, somehow, our loved ones are donning a cheesehead! In her role as a military chaplain Pastor Stephanie works with a whole Battalion of soldiers with differing faith and world views. As a Chaplain her duty is not to convert soldiers to her faith but rather support each individual in their own beliefs. While working to provide faith growth opportunities for Muslims, Mormons, and even Wiccans she has learned a great deal about the world around her and even deepened her own Lutheran understanding of the Christian faith. Pastor Stephanie reminds us that a key to civility is seeing others as we see ourselves, we are both beloved children of God. Interacting with our neighbors, even the Packers Fans, with Civility helps us all see the world as a little more Hope-Full!
We start our exploration of our theme for Lent “Hope-Full in a Weary World” by looking at Certainty. Pastor Chad reminds us that no matter how much we crave certainty in our lives, there is really no such thing! All too often we think faith is about certainty, that what we believe must be reduced to right or wrong, good or evil, black or white. The problem is that to maintain that level of certainty, we need to shut out others who think differently, we need to fight against anything and anyone who disagrees, and that is the opposite of what God is calling us to do! Faith isn’t about certainty; it is about hope! Hope is active, moving, changing, growing. Hope invites the Holy Spirit to work among us in new & surprising ways! Seeing the world as Hope-Full, reveals only one thing is certain God’s unending love for all of us!
Throughout the year we are hearing from members of the Bethlehem Community as an opportunity to hear how God's Story has resonated with our neighbor and hopefully finding some resonance between our story and theirs. This month, Eric Kuehl shares his story of finding resonance with God’s Story and with Your Story in community. Growing up in a conservative church in a small town in Minnesota Eric had a specific picture of God and of community that was shaped by his community. As Eric’s career and life path took him far away from that community his image of God and community changed as he encountered communities very different from home. The stories of friends helped expand his understanding of God, the people that God loves and even himself. One constant in Eric’s life has been a love for agriculture and those who have committed their life to feeding their neighbors. Eric’s vocation has allowed him to continue to connect with farmers and even advocate for them with legislators. This connection includes understanding the struggles with depression and the high rate of suicide among farmers. We hope that some small part of the Story of God at work in Eric’s life finds resonance with Your Story so that we might better connect with God and our community!
Jesus said: "Love your enemy." For a superhero in comic book, identifying the enemy is easy. We may not have an archnemesis, but all too often our enemy is staring back at us from the mirror. When we doubt our worth, we are our own worst enemy! God knows our true worth, after all we are created in God's own image! We are called: "good!" Realizing our worth in God's eyes helps us to love ourselves just the way we are and when we can do that, we can better love our enemies seeing their worth from God's perspective. Next time you see your enemy, in a face-off or in the mirror, remember you are both God's good creation and children of God loved just as you are, for exactly who you are!
Do you remember seeking out a space at a lunchroom table in Middle School? It is a microcosm of the human community throughout history. Groups form quickly based on commonalities: gender, race, interests, social caste, and more. Too often it becomes an either/or situation: EITHER you’re a member of the group OR you’re viewed as a threat to the group. Either you’re in or you’re out. Either you are in sync with the routine or you’re dancing to your own tune. The beatitudes reveal God’s view of community: the ones who are on the outside of human community are the center of God’s community. God’s community is expanding to include more & more beloved children vs human community that is turned inward to exclude those who are different. Today, more than ever, our divisive world needs to hear about this different shape of community that makes space at the table for everyone, even if they are dancing to a different tune!
Do you ever feel like you’re not measuring up? Like you’re not enough? Are you a Mirabel in the Family Madrigal? Pastor Stephanie brings us the Good News that God has done great things with people who didn’t feel like they measured up. Peter felt like a failure because he didn’t trust Jesus’ direction to catch fish. Jesus turned to Peter and gave him a new purpose to catch people. When all we notice is when we are falling short, God reminds us that we are enough! God sees beyond our failures and knows the great things we can do in the world; no magic required!
Have you noticed a lot of anger in the world, in your community, in your family, in yourself? Anger is a natural human emotion, even Jesus got angry. Pastor Chad challenges us to think about what makes us angry and perhaps more importantly what it motivates us to do! Jesus used his anger to empower action that brought those on the outside into God's love through healing and freedom even when it made those in power angry. When you see something in the community that makes you angry use it to spur you to action to bring God's love into the lives of all our neighbors.
Throughout the year we are hearing from members of the Bethlehem Community as an opportunity to hear how God's Story has resonated with our neighbor and hopefully finding some resonance between our story and theirs. This month, Josh Bauer shares how God's Story resonates in his vocation as a teacher, especially in all the challenges of the pandemic. God's Story resonates with Josh in the small nudges of his friends, family, and mentors to consider a change of careers from business to teaching. Josh also finds resonance when former students, colleagues, and friends share their stories and it is evident God is at work growing the seeds Josh has planted.
God likes to take the ordinary and do the extraordinary. This week Pastor Stephanie shares one example of this: the Wedding at Cana. When the wedding celebration ran out of wine for their guests it was a social faux pas, but not the end of the world. Mary asks Jesus to help his friend avoid the embarrassment of ending the party early. Jesus at first says it’s no concern of his. When the servants listen for instruction, Jesus tells them to do something mundane and ordinary: fill jars with water. When the steward draws from the jars it is an extraordinary wine that he assumes has been stashed away by the bridegroom not miraculously transformed from ordinary water. Jesus uses plain old water and the efforts or some ordinary servants to allow the celebration to continue with his friends. It was the first miracle that is recorded in the Gospels but Jesus didn’t use it to reveal his power to the crowd, only Mary, the disciples, and the servants knew the true source of that extraordinary wine. Pastor Stephanie then reminds us that God is doing extraordinary things with our ordinary efforts every day. So what extraordinary thing will come about from your ordinary self when placed in God’s hand?
What do donuts have to do with Baptism?
Pastor Stephanie offers a message on Baptism as we remember the Baptism of Our Lord. As a Chaplain, Pastor Stephanie has met with soldiers from many different Christian denominations with many different understandings of Baptism. As Lutherans we have a specific understanding of the Sacrament of Baptism that centers on God. Baptism is God's gift to ALL of creation without restriction or requirement. In Baptism it is God choosing us, not us choosing God. Baptism is forever, God's promises don't expire and don't have an escape clause.
On this Second Week of Christmas Pastor Chad shares a message appropriate as we enter the New Year and think about our identity going into 2022. The Gospel of John poetically describes Jesus’ birth as the Word made Flesh. Pastor Chad shares a paraphrase of the Gospel that describes Jesus as God’s pattern for everything set in place at Creation. Jesus as the pattern shows us how God intends to live with the rest of Creation. Shaped by the life of Jesus we are called to live in community grounded in love, grace, and compassion. Living in faith this way also helps shape our identity as we are called Children of God.
In this message for Christmas 2021, Pastor Stephanie reminds us that even among the chaos of pandemic life and the busyness of the Christmas season All the Earth is in fact Hopeful because God has come to us in birth of Jesus. Along with the shepherds we find true peace and real hope in the manger.
This week we hear in the Gospel message that Elizabeth calls Mary "Blessed". We often count our blessings by the number of people, or more often, things we have in our life. This young pregnant girl didn't have many to count! But in God's Kingdom things are often turned upside down and that is the Good News for Mary and for us! Even, and especially, when we lose what we can count God is with us. When a loved one dies, when a tornado destroys your home, when you are robbed of your independence by age or injury you are still blessed because God was born into a world like yours to a girl who had next to nothing.
On this third week of Advent Pastor Stephanie recounts her time at the Jordan River as we hear about John the Baptist again this week. Her time there was peaceful, unlike the crowds that had flocked to John. The theme for the third week of Advent is Joy but John has some harsh words for the crowds that come off as anything but joy-filled. The crowds ask what they can do to prepare for the coming of the Messiah and avoid the fate John is suggesting awaits this “brood of vipers.” His answer is generosity, an answer that is very familiar to us during this Season of Giving. The Advent & Christmas Season in our modern has become defined by gifts. Gifts shared with loved ones, gifts shared with our neighbors in need, and gifts we receive. Unfortunately, we too often forget that our neighbors’ needs continue all year round. Pastor Stephanie invites us to continue our generosity beyond Christmas as a better way to remember the greatest gift of God which is: an eternity surrounded by the love that came to earth as a baby in the manger.
On this second week of Advent Pastor Chad asks us to consider our image of God. It’s a question he always uses with Confirmation Students as they start the year. “What does God look like to you?” Often the results are the cartoon God on a cloud image that is distant and removed from their real life. The Gospel text includes Luke’s vision of God by explaining that God didn’t choose the powerful rulers of the region or temple leaders but rather the insignificant man in the wilderness John, son of Zechariah, to announce God’s approach. The Gospel goes on to explain that God is in the wilderness, the wild places of our real lives, raising the valleys and leveling the hills to make a straight path. It is this image of God with us on our personal journey through the wilderness where we find faith in Emmanuel, God with Us!
On this first week of Advent Pastor Stephanie shares a message of hope found in the seemingly apocalyptic reading. The disciples were expecting Jesus to bring about the end of the Roman occupation of Israel, but Jesus reminds them that the Kingdom of God is not yet here and their human understanding of time cannot predict the timing of God. It’s also a reminder that our time on earth is fleeting and fragile. We are called to make the most of the time we do have here on earth with faith in God and hope in the promise of the resurrection. We are created to spend our lives in worry, but to recognize the power of God at work in our lives. We can find hope in the reading as Jesus promises that even when the world is falling down around us the Word of God will not pass away!
This week we hear our next Story of Resonance from a member of the Bethlehem community. Heather Kraft shares how she finds resonance with God’s Story through encountering the stories of others in her volunteer work. Heather is a Befriender at Bethlehem visiting hospitalized & home-bound members of the congregation where she gets to sit and listen finding God’s Story interwoven with those she visits. She also uses her skills in recreational therapy at a therapeutic horseback riding program where seeing progress in the clients reminds her that God is at work all around us. Heather is also a hospice volunteer with the privilege of accompanying people at the end of their life journey which often includes lots of Stories shared about life, family, and faith. Through her volunteering Heather finds that empathy for our neighbors is what resonates most with her in God’s Story, Our Stories, and Her Story.
This week we hear Jesus talking to his disciples about the temple where they find comfort and a purpose for their life. Then Jesus tells them that the stones of the temple they are admiring will tumble to the ground. We have our own temples today, places where we find comfort, meaning, and purpose. But like the temple in Jerusalem, our temples get demolished and that leaves us feeling alone and afraid. Jesus words to the disciples hold promise for us, God is with us even when the temple has crumbled around us.
The 2:30am phone call that startles you awake starts you on a journey into grief and loss we know too well. We are created to be in relationship with our loved ones & neighbors and when they die, the lost relationship is isolating & painful. In worship this week we are celebrating All Saints, a time when we take time to remember and give thanks for all those who have touched our lives. We want to remember especially the loved ones of those who have died in the past year as their journey through grief & loss is fresh and all too often lonely. In the Gospel text for All Saints Sunday, Jesus’ friends are on this journey and they are waiting for Jesus to bring healing. But instead of hurrying to the bedside, Jesus drags his feet, leaving his friends waiting until it is seemingly too late and his friend dies. In the depths of your grief has it seemed like God is silent, leaving you all alone? Days later Jesus arrives and God’s glory shines through a great miracle as he commands: “Lazarus, come out!” and his friends rejoice that their relationship with Lazarus has been restored! We will continue to experience lost relationships and grief, it’s an inescapable part of the human condition. But. We don’t need to go through it alone! We are created for community and we can reassure those experiencing grief and loss that they are not alone, their faith community is here, you are here as a reminder of God’s love and presence! In his message Pastor Chad is asking us to make our presence known to those who are experiencing the loneliness of a relationship lost in the death of a loved one. Share a note of hope
This week we celebrate the Reformation that Martin Luther launched on October 31, 1517 by posting a list of 95 ideas he wanted to debate regarding the practices of the Catholic Church. At the core of Luther’s arguments was his understanding of Romans 3:19-28: “. . . since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift. . .” Before he studied Romans, Luther never felt like he was doing enough to earn his salvation. This new understanding of grace, freed Luther from his fears of not measuring up to God’s expectations. Grace is offered to Luther, and to us, just as we are for who we are, there is nothing we have done, or could do, to deserve the gift of salvation.
This week we hear another Story of Resonance. Jan Nelson shares how God's Story has resonated in her life story. Finding a church home in every new city her career took her to was vital to making friends and finding a purpose outside of work. Jan retired from a busy, stressful career to move closer to her family. She moved into a home just blocks from her parents (Duane & Ele Nelson) and spent lots of time with them listening and learning. As her parents aged, she took on more of a caretaker role, especially for Ele whose dementia is progressing. Having found a church home at Bethlehem has provided Jan with a support network of friends who understand the challenges of caring for aging parents. Jan, we are so grateful you can share your Story of Resonance with us this week!
Pastor Stephanie reminds us that seeking glory, wealth, and power has been part of the human condition long before powerful corporations started influencing our social connections. This week’s Gospel has two of the most beloved disciples asking Jesus to provide them each with a seat of glory beside Jesus. Jesus needs to them to understand the great cost of his own glory and that the glory they seek is not what they are expecting it to be. While the other disciples were angered by the audacity of James & John, they too have something to learn from Jesus. Glory comes not from grabbing for more power but in reaching out with the power, wealth and influence you do have to those who are the least among us. The true seat of power in God’s Kingdom is beside your neighbor in need, building them up and showing them the love that God has for all creation.
"I don't have enough: __________" Too often we view the world from a scarcity mindset which leads us to be overly possessive of what we are most afraid of losing: time, money, attention, family time, ________ . A faithful and very successful man asks Jesus what he must do to inherit Eternal Life. Jesus recognizes the man's faithfulness but challenges him to use his success to help bring about God's vision for the whole world. When the things he treasures are with those "on the outside" of society, his heart will follow and he will find his heartbeat is in tune with God's heart! Our treasures cannot be the center of our existence because it leads to a scarcity mindset that prevents us from sharing with those who need our support and then our heart is not loving in the same way God loves us.
This week’s Gospel texts feature two hot button topics: Divorce and Children. Being a child of divorce, Pastor Stephanie knows that discussions of marriage & divorce can be messy! Today she is encouraging us to view Jesus’ answer to the Pharisees not as a condemnation of any & all divorce but rather as a condemnation of those times when people misuse power to exclude someone else. In the Kingdom of God there is room for ALL at the table! Jesus further demonstrates this vision when he says the kingdom belongs to the ones who are like children, the ones without power in society. The good news is those on the margins, those without power, those who have been turned away, those who have fallen short, those who are doubting their worth, the widow, the orphan, me and you, ALL have a place in the Kingdom of God, without reservations!
This week we welcome Jerry Sparby to share his Story of Resonance. Being an educator, God's Story resonates with Jerry in the stories of families and especially in children experiencing isolation & depression. Jerry knows the value that God sees in every child and that reminds him to treasure each person he encounters no matter the circumstances they are in. Through his nonprofit, the Yes Network, Jerry strives to connect students with a purpose in their community to show them their worth and their connections. Jerry's goal for every day is: to see & feel God's presence in each and every one he meets! It is our hope that part of Jerry's story will resonate with you and draw you closer to God's story that is at the center of it all.
Working with kids is sometimes compared to herding cats. So why does Jesus want his followers to be more like a child? The disciples were busy fighting amongst themselves about who was the greatest because they didn’t really understand what Jesus was talking about when he told them to take up their cross and follow. Being among the lowest rank in society Jesus uses a child as an example of who his followers are called to welcome and serve. Even when children are more precocious than precious they need our help to grow into their full potential. Even as adults we sometimes don’t live up to our potential, throw tantrums, and hurt the ones we love. And the Good News is that God welcomes, serves, and loves us even when we are being the most “unherdable” children.
Sometimes in life we come up against deep questions that cause us to stop and think. Pastor Chad relates a question asked by a son of his father "Why did you choose to have me knowing that I was going to die someday?" How do you answer a question like that! How do you answer Jesus' question of his Disciples "Who do you say that I am?" For Pastor Chad it comes back to our theme for the coming year: Resonance. The best answer is the one that finds resonance with your story. For the father, it is the indescribable bond he found from the moment his son was born. For the disciples, it was Jesus is the Messiah; but did that really resonate with them after Jesus describes the path the Messiah and his followers must take? For Pastor Chad, the God Story that deeply resonates with him is the way the Hebrew notation for God reminds him that God's name is resonating all around him.
As humans we like to contain things, to set boundaries on things (and people), to create barriers between us & things that are different. In the Gospel today, Jesus comes up against a barrier meant to protect the Jewish people from outsiders. At first, he is hesitant to cross the boundary that separates him from a Gentile woman asking for healing of her daughter. The woman's persistence and willingness to risk crossing the barrier to help her daughter, causes Jesus to rethink this boundary. The Gentile girl is healed, and Jesus shows God's love and mercy cannot be contained. When Jesus crosses boundaries and no longer fits the container the leaders have for him, he is seen as a dangerous outsider and it leads to his death. The Good News we hear today is that God’s love cannot be contained and God calls us to break through the barriers of our own making in order to share that boundless love with all our neighbors!
Society has plenty of rules & expectations. Today's preaching texts address what makes us unclean. The religious leaders think that because the disciples eat without washing their hands in the proper ritual manner they are defiled. Jesus corrects them noting that it is not what goes into our body but what comes out of a person that makes them unclean. It is our words and actions that come from our heart that are important to God. And the really Good News is even when our words and actions don't meet God's expectations we are still wholly loved by God for who we are just as we are! We are washed clean in the waters of Baptism and are named Child of God, an identity that can never be defiled!
Have you found yourself walking away lately? Walking away from friends? From family? From activities? From church? From God? In the Gospel text for this week the followers of Jesus walk away. They can't understand what Jesus is talking about when he says "I am the Bread of Life" and that for eternal life we must drink his blood and eat his flesh! It's hard for us to understand too. They also leave because Jesus is not meeting their expectations for a powerful leader that will free them from the Roman occupation. Sometimes Jesus doesn't meet our expectations and we walk away. But the Good News today is that God is NEVER Walking Away!
Pastor Stephanie Christoffels preaches on the next section of "The Bread of Life" texts from the Gospel of John. What makes Communion a Sacrament? How do the earthly elements of Bread & Wine combine with the divine promise of God's presence bring about eternal life? The simplicity of this sacrament serves as a reminder that we are all welcome to experience the love of God first hand, we all have a place at The Lord's Table!
Questions to consider this week:
How do you experience God, forgiveness, the promise of eternal life, and being a part of the body of Christ with each of your five senses?
- How does it look?
- How does it taste?
- How does it feel?
- How does it sound?
- How does it smell?
Think about what Holy Communion means to you, and how you felt the last time you received it.
Pastor Chad Peterson preaches on the next section of "The Bread of Life" texts from the Gospel of John. Pastor Chad works from a quote by Elisabeth Kubler Ross claiming there are only two emotions Love and Fear. They can not coexist and when we ingest the Bread of Life that is Jesus way of forgiveness, grace, mercy, and compassion we are living in Love. Too often we find ourselves trying to live our lives from a base of Fear that is the opposite of what God intends for us and for all Creation. Learning to recognize our Fear based choices and rather choose Love will help us find the true sustenance that has come down from heaven! Questions to Consider This Week:
Right now what is giving you life and energy and what is draining your life and energy?
How does fear impact your ability to live the life God dreams for creation?
Pastor Stephanie Christoffels preaches on the next story from John's Gospel (John 6:24-35) in which Jesus reveals that he is the true Bread of Life. Having just fed the multitude with 5 loaves and 2 fish Jesus is tracked down by the crowd expecting further miracles. Their expectations are that he can continue to provide for their physical needs but he shows them that God's plan is much bigger than providing something to eat. Today we sometimes wonder if God is real because our expectations for concrete answers to life's big questions aren't met. We need to change our expectations and discover God at work in our neighbors, in our world, and in our lives to find the true Bread of Life!
Questions to Consider This Week:
- What are your expectations, of yourself, of others, of God?
- Have there been times in your life where you have questioned God’s existence, or God’s love for you? When were they? What else were you struggling with at the time?
- Where have you seen God provide for you?
- What does it mean to you for Jesus to be the bread of life?
Pastor Chad preaches on the Feeding of the Five Thousand. Often we approach our life from a scarcity perspective like the disciples did as they faced with feeding a crowd of more than 5,000. Jesus shows them, and us, that with God there’s always a surplus. When we don’t think we are “enough” God sees it differently, whatever seemingly limited resources you bring to love & serve your neighbor is going to make a big difference when God multiplies the efforts of the whole community.
Pastor Stephanie preaches on busyness, rest, and the way Jesus addresses both. In the Gospel for this week Jesus encourages the disciples to get some rest after teaching and healing across the countryside. While the disciples rest, people hear that Jesus is in the area and crowds gather around him. No matter how busy Jesus is there is always time to bring healing to people. This is Good News for us, even when we let life get too busy we can find Jesus there waiting to offer us rest and the healing that accompanies it.
Pastor Chad preaches on the Gospel Text for the week which is hard to read as Good News. While it isn’t good news it is an honest look at the way humanities pursuit of power is counter to the vision of God for community. John the Baptist was beheaded as a demonstration of power to avoid looking weak. The honesty of the story does point to Good News: in Jesus there is hope for those without power or prestige. In one of the only stories in Mark’s Gospel where Jesus does not appear, (only tales of his work healing and teaching) we see a vision of our world without Jesus, a world where those with prestige destroy lives of their neighbor in order to maintain power at all costs.
Pastor Stephanie preaches on the Gospel text for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost. In Nazareth, the townspeople question Jesus’ authority because they can’t see him as anything but a carpenter. The Good News is that we aren’t trapped by the circumstances of our birth when it comes to doing God’s work in the world. We too can move beyond society’s place for us to do great things when we love God and love our neighbor!
Rev. Dee Pederson, Director for Evangelical Mission in the Southwestern MN Synod, is our guest preacher this week. The Gospel shares two stories of healing that come about because of Engagement. The women took a risk to engage with Jesus even though she was ‘ritually unclean’ and was made well by a faith daring to just touch the hem of Jesus’ coat. Then Jesus crosses another ritual barrier to interact with the girl that was thought to be dead. Our faith calls us to engage with people across barriers because in God’s vision for community there are no barriers that shouldn’t be crossed to love our neighbors created in God’s image.
Pastor Stephanie Christoffels preaches on the Gospel for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost which recounts Jesus Calming the Storm. We all react to storms a little differently and each storm is unique. We are reminded that Jesus was in the same storm as the disciples and yet remained calm because he knew that even the wind would obey the direction of God. Remember there are others around us in the midst of their own storm in their own small boats and maybe they could use a reminder of the calm that God brings to the storms of life.
Pastor Chad Peterson preaches on the Parable of the Mustard Seed. What does a tiny seed have to tell us about the Kingdom of God, especially when we feel like our faith is too tiny to make a difference. When we plant tiny seeds of love, justice, and community we are helping bring about God's Kingdom here on earth.
It’s Pastor Stephanie Christoffels’ first Sunday at Bethlehem. She preaches on the gospel text for the Second Sunday after Pentecost in which Jesus talks about how the divisions we form stand in the way of God’s vision for us. When we share in the work of God’s Kingdom we are united with other Children of God into a new family in Christ.
It’s Trinity Sunday and Pastor Chad preaches on the Gospel text for the day which helps us address the fear and trauma of living in a pandemic with the reassurance that "God so loved the world!"
It’s Pentecost Sunday and Pastor Peter preaches on the texts for the day which all include “a time in between” as there is a transition. He reflects on his time with Bethlehem during our leadership transition and the transition to ministry in a pandemic.
On the Seventh (and final) Sunday of Easter, Pastor Chad preaches on the Gospel text in which Jesus prays for his followers that they may be united as one in their identity as beloved children of God.
On the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Pastor Peter preaches on the Gospel text in which Jesus shares again the commandment to love one another as he loves us. There are many words for different types of love in the ancient Greek language that the Gospel of John is recorded in. This love isn’t about attraction but action. It is giving of yourself so that the other might benefit. Jesus is calling us to Agape.
On the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Pastor Chad preaches on the text from Acts of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. God moves the disciples out past their comfort zones by bringing Philip into contact with a Gentile who would never be allowed into the Temple. The Eunuch understands God’s vision of the Kingdom and asks “What is to prevent me from being baptized?” Again God crosses boundaries to show there is nothing that can prevent our access to God’s love, grace, mercy, and compassion.
On the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Pastor Chad preaches on the Gospel text for what is sometimes called Good Shepherd Sunday. What does it mean to hear the Shepherd’s voice? In today's world there’s a lot of noise that can get in the way of our listening. How can we better train our ears to hear the Shepherd? A good shepherd knows their sheep, and Jesus knows us and hears us even amidst all the noise.
On the Third Sunday of Easter, Pastor Chad preaches on the Gospel text as once again Jesus shows up unexpectedly much to the disbelief of the disciples. The disciples' disbelief helps us realize that faith isn’t about belief, or intellectually knowing, as it is about trust. And sometimes trust is harder to come by than belief!
On the Second Sunday of Easter, Pastor Peter preaches on the Gospel text when Jesus appears to the disciples after the resurrection. It’s no wonder Thomas doubts the story, no one has a round trip ticket across the river between life and death. Jesus breaks another barrier in order to bring peace to his followers.
On Easter Sunday we hear the Good News again that Jesus is not in the tomb, the power of death has not won! Pastor Chad invites us to more than hear, but actually connect with the story this year. Connect with God’s love that brings new life out of death. Just don’t expect that life to be the same as it was!
On Palm Sunday we will retell the story of two very different processions that entered Jerusalem in two very different ways. The way of Jesus sets out a vision of God’s Kingdom that we are called to follow as we enter the story of Holy Week and celebrate Easter. A special thank you to the storytellers Solveig Anderson Krafnick, Steve Walk, Luther Rotto, & Sadie Zellmann; and musicians Kaye Schimnich & Dennis Raymond, who helped connect us to that story.
On the Fifth Sunday in Lent, Pastor Chad preaches on the Gospel text when Jesus foreshadows his death and the bountiful fruit it will bear. Often we mourn something that is “dead & buried”: a relationship, a job, a lifestyle. Jesus reminds us that like seeds sometimes things that are buried surprise us with new fruits.
On the Fourth Sunday in Lent Pastor Peter preaches on the Gospel text when Jesus says that he will be lifted up like Moses life the bronze serpent to heal the Israelites.
On the Second Sunday in Lent we remember that Jesus does get mad. His confrontation in the Temple shows that his anger is with those who prevent the Kingdom of God from reaching everyone. He is mad at those who use their power to oppress those without access to worldly power.
On the Second Sunday in Lent we remember God’s promises aren’t always easy to believe or trust. Abram & Sarai were very old when God promises them (a second time) that they would be the ancestors of a multitude of nations. And in the Gospel Jesus promises that the Messiah must suffer and die which Peter simply can’t believe. Faith is much more about God who keeps promises than it is about our ability to believe them!