12 Pentecost C—8/7/16 Genesis 15:1-6; Psalm 33:12-22; Hebrews 11:1-3,8-16; Luke 12:32-40 Pr. Scott Kramer Following worship every Sunday many of us head downstairs for coffee hour. There your attention likely is on the coffee, the food and the conversation. It may be, though, that on occasion you’ve happened to glance at the floor and if you have you’ve probably noticed the red carpet. Well, it’s not so red anymore. These days it’s more like shades of red mixed with shades of black. And you … [Read more...]
Fail…safe
3 Easter C—4/10/16 Acts 9:1-20; Psalm 30; Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19 Pr. Scott Kramer This past Thursday Elon Musk announced that after only one week over 325,000 pre-orders had been made for the much-anticipated Model 3. Elon Musk is CEO of American electric carmaker Tesla Motors, and the Model 3 is the company’s first vehicle priced under $40,000. Elon Musk was co-founder of Paypal and SolarCity and is currently CEO of SpaceX, the company that a couple of days ago successfully landed a … [Read more...]
Saved to Save
3 Lent C—2/28/16 Isaiah 55:1-9; Psalm 63:1-8; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9 Pr. Scott Kramer Three weeks ago yesterday, on February 6th, at 4:00 in the morning, my wife and I were awakened by windows rattling and the building shaking. I looked at her and she said, “Earthquake”, and…we both fell back asleep! Maybe not the safest response to an earthquake (!) but the next morning we heard news that she was right. It was an earthquake—the same one you read about in the news--on the … [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...]
Word(s) to Live By
2 Christmas C—1/3/15 Jeremiah 31:7-14; Psalm 147:12-20; Ephesians 1:3-14; John 1:1-18 Pr. Scott Kramer Week after week we hear these words: Word of God. Word of Life. And the people respond: Praise to you, O Christ. This morning when you hear “Word of God, Word of Life…” your response is: Thanks be to God! As we conclude the Christmas season, what is the word of God for us? What is the word of life that will feed and sustain us as we move forward into this New Year? Each of the readings for … [Read more...]
Eye of the Needle
Mark 10:17-31 By Melody Kroeger October 11, 2015 It is, for all intents and purposes, a compelling image: the camel going through the eye of a needle. In my experience sitting in churches, both large and small, this verse from the Gospel of Mark always raises eyebrows. And, when it is proclaimed the text will almost invariably come with a generic defense of riches, to allow the financial comfortable to remain comfortable. This sort of defense usually takes one of several options. The … [Read more...]
Grown-up Conversations
20 Pentecost B—10/11/15 Amos 5:6-7,10-15; Psalm 90:12-17; Hebrews 4:12-16; Mark 10:17-31 Pr. Scott Kramer I have learned from parents of young children that one of the things they miss most is a “grown-up” conversation. I was talking this past week with one of my pastor colleagues in the area whose children are now teenagers, and I asked how they were doing. “Oh,” she said, “it is so nice to be able to have adult conversations with them!” The past two weeks we have heard Jesus praise … [Read more...]
Beyond Tradition
14 Pentecost B—8/30/15 Deut. 4:1-2,6-9; Psalm 15; James 1:17-27; Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23 Pr. Scott Kramer This morning’s gospel reading from Mark picks up where last week’s reading from John left off: All the Jews do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it and there are also many other traditions that they observe…So the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why do your … [Read more...]
Perfect In Weakness
6 Pentecost B-7/5/15 Ezekiel 2:1-5; Psalm 123; 2 Corinthians 12:2-10; Mark 6:1-13 Pr. Scott Kramer “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Wow! Such a big family. If you’re in the habit of imagining the Christmas Eve version of Jesus’ family—Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus—this passage might come as a surprise. Jesus may have been the firstborn but according … [Read more...]
For You
5 Pentecost B—6/28/15 Mark 5:21-43 By Melody Kroeger Many of you, maybe even most of you, have read the great American novel Grapes of Wrath. If you haven’t read the novel, perhaps you’ve seen the movie – John Ford’s adaptation, starring a very young Henry Fonda. The novel lays out the story of one Oklahoma family, the Joads, leaving their devastated Dust Bowl home to find work picking fruit in California. As the family pulls out of a gasoline station, one attendant, remarking on the … [Read more...]