"Down Under" Reflections for Lent: Laughing Buddha, Suffering Christ Having returned from a recent trip to visit family in Australia, Pr. Scott offers reflections on highlights of the experience in light of the season of Lent. The eye of Christ The last thing I want when traveling to a tropical area in the middle of winter is to spend a lot of time indoors. In Australia, we spent the great bulk of our time outdoors. We did, however, want to visit at least one local museum so we … [Read more...]
News of Grace
4 Lent B—3/15/15 Numbers 21:4-9; Psalm 107:1-3,17-22; Ephesians 2:1-10; John 3:14-21 Pr. Scott Kramer I still haven’t gotten used to the idea of going to my phone for the news. I’m still an old-fashioned newspaper guy. Maybe you get your news from your tablet, radio, or TV—there are lots of choices these days! But regardless of where we get our news there’s a more interesting question: How do you know what to believe? News is not just one thing. The cover story for this month’s … [Read more...]
Final Exam
Christ the King A14—11/23/14 Ezekiel 34:11–16, 20–24; Psalm 95:1-7a; Eph. 1:15-23; Matt. 25:31-46 “God loves you…no matter what.” At the baptismal font, week after week, in the presence of children, we hear these words. “God loves you…no matter what.” Children seem to accept this assurance with little problem. We adults, however, are waiting for the other shoe to drop, right? Unconditional love—truly unconditional love—is so rare in the world and so rare in our experience … [Read more...]
Manhattan or Mayberry?
Reformation Sunday 14—10/26/14 Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 46; Romans 3:19-28; John 8:31-36 If you don’t commute to work every day you may not know it but traffic has gotten worse in recent years. In his Seattle Times column this past week, Danny Westneat wrote that “Seattle’s got the traffic of a big-time city, but the spirit of a small town when it comes to doing anything about it.” In another article he says we’re like Manhattan, but when it comes to traffic we act like Mayberry. “We’re … [Read more...]