Pr. Sara Yoos, Guest Pastor and Preacher Lakeridge Lutheran Mark 8:27-38 9/16/18 You may have noticed that I’m pregnant. Now, the first few months, people were really cautious about asking. But after 4 months, it was pretty obvious this was more than just a big lunch. But once it was obvious that I am pregnant, it became especially awkward around strangers. See, I’m a foster parent as well to an eleven month old baby girl. So when people see me carrying around a baby – then notice that I’m … [Read more...]
Willing
Christ the King Sunday November 26, 2017 Matthew 25 Nathan Michael Black Good morning! It’s a joy to be with you all on this weekend of gratitude, feasting, and spending time with loved ones. I hope this holiday time has been good for each of you. And I know the holidays can be difficult times for many of us. Please know that we hold each of you in our hearts and if you need anything during this season, please call the church to speak with us. Let us go to God in prayer: Dear … [Read more...]
A Gracious Feast
19th Sunday after Pentecost Lakeridge Lutheran Church Matthew 22:1-14 Nathan Black Most of the time, when we contemplate the words of scripture, especially the words of Jesus, the message seems clear, the good news is directly declared, the promise of forgiveness and reconciliation is right there in the text, clear as day. And sometimes, the text leaves us conflicted, questioning, wondering. That has been my experience with this morning’s text. Is this really what the kingdom of … [Read more...]
A Holon One
18 Pentecost C--9/18/16 Cosmos Sunday Proverbs 8:22-31; Psalm 148; Colossians 1:15-20; John 6:41-51 Pr. Maggie Breen My dad died to alcoholism when he was 65. He had struggled with the loss of life much earlier. The ways of the world caused him great anxiety. He couldn’t work out how he fit, couldn’t find a way to the life he was made for, and so he drank. He lost his job, a job that never really used the gifts he had, in his early 40s. He never worked again, and he slowly, and painfully drank … [Read more...]
Faith & Doubt
Third Sunday of Easter April 10, 2016 by Melody Kroeger This is my favorite gospel story! Oh who am I’m kidding – they’re all my favorite! But the story of Thomas – doubting Thomas – is especially dear to me because he is so much like us – or at least like me: uncertain – even doubtful – in the face of betrayal, emptiness and tragedy. And given Thomas’ situation, who among us would not be filled with a measure of doubt mixed with a certain amount of fear? Within the short span of five days, … [Read more...]
Stoned Prophets
Second Sunday in Lent February 21, 2016 Luke 13:31-35 Melody Kroeger The Attorney General of the United States came to warn him. “We have reports that there’s a sniper in the outskirts of Montgomery waiting to shoot Dr. King.” King refused to leave his supports behind and seek safety in a northern state. “I don’t care what happens,” Dr. King told his advisors, “I have to march and I have to be in the front line”. Martin Luther King was in trouble. The same sort of trouble that … [Read more...]
God’s Generosity and Goodness
Second Sunday After Epiphany 1/17/16 By Melody Kroeger “They have no more wine,” Mary, mother of Jesus, tells Jesus. What happens to a celebration – any celebration - when the wine runs out? Yikes! Weddings were large, raucous communal events in the ancient Jewish world and the feast was a big part of the celebration – involving entire villages and often lasting beyond the week. Our readings today illustrate for us how weddings and feasts loom large throughout scriptures as metaphors for the … [Read more...]
At the Threshold
Third Sunday of Advent 12/13/15 By Melody Kroeger Last week while trimming the rose bushes, in between rain squalls, my thoughts wandered to Christmas. More to the point, I thought about why the time leading up to Christmas is difficult transition for so many people. (It is a tough time of year for me, too.) Christmas is a time of great anticipation and expectation but also of unfulfilled promises. It is, for many reasons, a season of contradictions. Working in the garden between rain drops … [Read more...]
Making Peace
25th Sunday After Pentecost 11/15/15 By Melody Kroeger It was ninety-six years Wednesday since the end of the First World War, at 11 o’clock on the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For ninety-six years, since 1919, people have stood silently – at that time, or on the nearest Sunday – to remember the dead of the War that was to end all wars, of the world war that followed it, and the wars that have followed those. We should not forget that the gospel of Mark is a war-time gospel, … [Read more...]
Eyes Wide Open
Mark 10: 46-52 by Melody Kroeger October 25, 2015 Now what do you imagine Bartimaeus did after his eyes were opened? Did he have a family – a father or mother whose faces he longed to see for the first time? Was he stunned by the beauty of clouds shifting softly against a clear blue sky? Perhaps his breath was caught up by the colorful chaos and hustling of the marketplace. Or, was Bartimaeus disappointed in what he saw – his rags, misery and filth? Once the sharp edges of … [Read more...]