In the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), a stranger has compassion on an injured man and heals him. Not only is the extent of care surprising, but Jesus pushes the ancient world's buttons by surprising his listeners that the one who showed mercy was a Samaritan, definitively "the other." We continue to live in a world, much like Jesus' time, when there are all sorts of division and boundaries that exist, which make it challenging for us to become neighbors to each other. But this ha...
Jul 15, 2025
What is on your packing list? Jesus sends out his disciples on a mission trip (Luke 10). He begins by warning them that he is sending them out as sheep among wolves. Then he gives them a very strange packing list - no bags, no sandals, instead Faith, Hope and Love A reflection on how each week, Jesus sends us out as his disciples, into a weary and broken world with simply this: Faith, Hope and Love....
Jul 08, 2025
For Freedom, Christ has set you free! Paul to the Galatians (5:1) We love our freedom as Americans and later this week will celebrate our independence. Yet, freedom can go awry, as Paul warns; in fact, he tells us not to use our freedom for our own self-indulgence. How shall we live then? Relish our freedom or discipline ourselves against it? It can often seem as if we live (and especially try to raise our kids) caught in between a Scylla and Charybdis, between a "Do whatever I want-ism" and a "...
Jul 01, 2025
Jesus heals a man possessed by demons (Luke 8:26-39). The healing begins with the naming of the demons. Naming demons has the power to begin the freedom from them. This is especially true when we name them ourselves. Yet... The disciples never learned the name of the man; they simply referred to him as the demon possessed man. A reminder that we can demonize other people, ignoring their name and identifying them by their demons, their trauma, their sins and all the ways we don't like them. This ...
Jun 24, 2025
Holy Trinity Sunday (June 15 2025) "Suffering produces endurance; endurance produces character; character produces hope" (Paul to the Romans, 5:3) In light of this passage, Pastor Rob asks two questions: Where has God been in your life in the midst of suffering? Where has God called you into the sufferings of others? Given how crazy our world is, the second question turns out to be quite difficult. For an answer, we need to turn further to the words of Jesus....
Jun 17, 2025
Pentecost 2025 Jesus promises us peace (John 14:27) In a world of anxiety and conflict, we yearn for this peace from Jesus. What might this peace look like? Maybe its like a walk home with friends. Yet...a reflection on peace makes us realize the church's need again for Pentecost (Acts 2), to have the Spirit push us through the boundaries that block people from the peace of Jesus. What might this Pentecost look like today? Maybe its like an inflatable bounce house on a warm summer evening. The i...
Jun 10, 2025
Ascension (June 1) We are swimming in information today, but this hasn't made the truth easier to find. Today's sermon is intended for all people, but especially the 8th graders being confirmed. (They were making a public confession of faith, saying yes to the promises made to them in their baptisms). Where can we -- above all young people -- find a truth to build our lives on? This issue of truth is brought to the fore this particular Sunday, when we celebrate the Ascension (Acts 1:1-11), becau...
Jun 03, 2025
Easter VI (May 25, 2025) "Do you want to be made well?" Jesus asks the man who has been sick for 38 years! The obvious answer should be "yes", but it isn't. In our lives too, we often fall into cycles and situations in which we are not well, but we aren't quite capable of rising above the situation. Into this situation comes Jesus, willing to offer compassion and challenge beyond anything we've experienced before. The art is by Nathan Greene. You can purchase it here . I am sensitive to images o...
May 27, 2025
"A New Commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, love one another." How can Jesus command love, something seemingly impossible to command? And what might it mean to love others as Jesus has loved us? To get at these questions, we look at the setting of Jesus giving this new commandment, namely, when he washes the disciple's feet. As we ponder this act of service, we discover not only the depth of challenge in Jesus words to love as he loved, but also the word of grace and pr...
May 20, 2025
Easter IV (May 11 2025) What is your “full name” — the thing that people say after your name that completes their description of you? For example, “That is Jane, she is a great teacher” or “That is Sam, he is an amazing basketball player” Today we learn the full name of an early believer in the book of Acts (9:36-43): Tabitha, aka Dorcas, “was always doing good and helping the poor…” What a beautiful full name! Pastor Rob offers a word of challenge today: In your quest to make a good full name f...
May 13, 2025
Easter III (May 4, 2025) The story seems like comfortable at first: The disciples go fishing, they eat breakfast with Jesus and then Peter tells Jesus he loves him. (John 21:1-17) But once you start digging, you realize this is a story about the power of shame. Peter is ashamed of his denial of Jesus and this manifests itself in all sorts of typical shame behavior Avoiding Covering Up Focusing on self and past mistakes How then can Peter move forward? How can we move forward in our shame? It tur...
May 06, 2025
Easter 2025 Easter is a time of memories, including memories of our loved ones who have died. The first Easter, in fact, began with a trip the place of memories — the word for tomb in Greek is memory! A reflection on memories and how the resurrection changes everything, including how we understand our memories. The image comes from the Kid’s Corner Bible site ....
Apr 29, 2025
Good Friday 2025 Where you there? It is a more haunting question than it sounds. (Based on the passion of John, found in chapters 18-19 ). In the end, yes, yes, you and I were there....
Apr 29, 2025
Palm Sunday (April 13, 2025) What does it mean to have power? The Roman Empire displayed a type of power we know: The ability to get what you want, when you want it. Their imperial parades were the example of power, as the leaders rode in on majestic horses. You could call this horse power. Jesus offered a different vision of power: The ability to help others. His parade, as he rode on donkey, showed what this power looks like. You could call this donkey power. Helping others through acts of lov...
Apr 15, 2025
Lent V (April 6, 2025) Who are people with whom you can share your joy and happiness? In our world of work, school, activities and even family, this kind of friendship and community is surprisingly rare. Too many relationships have competition, jealousy and shame for this to happen readily. As we wrap up the book of Ruth, we encounter a rejoicing Naomi. She is holding a grandson. Admittedly, it is not directly her grandson, but after the chaos, grief and loss of her life, she is rejoicing at thi...
Apr 08, 2025
Lent IV (March 30, 2025) We know well the look of the older brother in the painting. His whole body shouts: “It’s not fair!” He is not wrong. As the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-35) plays itself out, the story is unfair. Which justifiably angers the older brother. As humans, we all protest when we don’t think things are fair. In order to make life together work, we need their to be fairness. Yet… It turns out in life that we encounter situations in which we need more than fairness. So...
Apr 01, 2025
Lent 3 (March 23, 2025) Life Together — our Lenten theme — sounds great, but what about the times we found ourselves as an outsider? Pastor Rob reflects outsider-insider dynamics by looking at the book of Ruth, as Ruth begins her new life in Bethlehem (Ruth 2:1-7). As we work with the story, we see that at certain points in our lives, we are like Ruth, an outsider; at other points, we are like Naomi, a bridge builder; at other points, we are like Boaz, the insider. As it turns out, each role can...
Mar 25, 2025
Lent 2 (March 16, 2025) Naomi, Ruth and Orpah are three women who are grieving (Ruth 1). The deaths they have encountered force them to make tough decisions that include both separation but also deeper connection. When we experience loss, through death, break-ups or illness, it often impacts our relationships. Some come to an end; others are new or renewed in a profound way. We find that even in the face of death and loss, God is still the God of easter and resurrection, who gives us life togeth...
Mar 18, 2025
Lent 1 (March 9, 2025) Two truths and a lie – a game we’ve probably all played. Today, the devil plays a far higher stakes version of the game, sowing a lie amidst the truth as he tempts Jesus. This Lent we are focusing on Life Together; there is nothing more toxic to life together than lies. And while lying has always been part of the human story (the prince of lies is always at work!), our modern world’s technology makes it so hard for us to figure out how to distinguish between truth and lies...
Mar 11, 2025
Eat Less Fear; Behold More Glory We eat a LOT of fear in daily lives. This works disease in our souls, blinding us to God’s glory and blocking us from living as disciples. In the Transfiguration of Jesus (Luke 9:28-38), we learn another path of dealing with fear and beholding the glory of God: Going to the mountain, praying and listening to Jesus. What might it mean to go to the mountain? One example: Watching children at the church’s early learning center fascinated by a visiting dog. A reflect...
Mar 04, 2025
February 23, 2025 “Love your enemies… Turn the other cheek.” (Luke 6) Does Jesus know how the world works? Turns out that Jesus knows very well how the world works: He knows our world needs mercy. In fact, he invites us into the heavenly family business of mercy. A reflection on the possibility and even necessity of loving our enemy....
Feb 25, 2025
February 9, 2025 Jesus calls Peter and his fellow fishermen to push out their boat a little and then cast their nets into the deep. In the same way, Jesus calls us. Sometimes this call is for something small; other times for something that seems riskier and harder. Peter laments this call of Jesus, saying that he is worn and the fish aren’t moving. Peter doesn’t believe this his actions will make a difference. In our lives and in our world today, we can also often feel like our actions will not ...
Feb 11, 2025
February 2, 2025 Love is patient and love is kind. Yet the people want to throw Jesus off a cliff (Luke 4:18-30)! Where is the love? Pastor Rob offers that the people in Jesus’ hometown do have love, it is just misguided and blinding. We struggle with this today as well as our love can be misguided and blinding. Our love of one person or one group can block our loving another person or another group. As humans, we have a strong inclination to love “us” and not “them.” A reflection on Jesus’ pati...
Feb 11, 2025
3 Epiphany (Sunday, January 26, 2025) Today we hear Jesus’ inauguration speech as he gives his first sermon (Luke 4:11-21). In this sermon, Jesus lays out the fundamental direction of his ministry: Uplifting the poor By…opening the eyes and hearts of the rich to share what they have so that… all may live in a “body” that loves God and loves neighbor It turns out this message was fundamentally different than the way the world worked 2,000 years ago. The message continues to be different from how ...
Jan 28, 2025
January 19, 2025 Today St. Paul celebrates the confirmation of five adults. (Confirmation is a public affirmation by a teen or adult of their baptism, which typically happened at a younger age). The story of Jesus turning water into wine at Cana (John 2:1-11) provides a framework for thinking through: What then are we confirming? We are confirming that God is a God who turns water into wine. We are confirming that we are not gods who can turn water into wine, but we can fill the cup to the brim,...
Jan 21, 2025
