Advent Candle Litany - Week 2 A voice cries out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord.” A choir sings in the silence, “Come, Emmanuel.” Every valley shall…
The Thrill of Hope leads us to take the first step into the Advent season. Hope keeps us awake, hope is what we trust in, hope that God will show…
Christ's reign has begun. Outside of time, beyond past, present, and future, Christ sits on the throne and all things are being restored in Christ. Our role is to bear witness to it, to see Christ in the people we meet, and to serve with love as people who know the shepherd's voice. November 22, 2020 Bulletin Hymns Crown Him with Many Crowns – #268 All Hail the Power of Jesus Name – #263 Joy to the World – #134 CALL TO WORSHIP      Lector, Tracy Caruso “I will search for my sheep,” says the Lord. Like lost lambs or scattered sheep, the Lord seeks us and calls us home. “I will gather them from far and near,” says the Lord. A cherished fold, a beloved flock, the Lord sustains us and gives us rest. “I will be their shepherd,” says the Lord. We listen for the voice of the God who seeks us, and follow with devotion and gratitude! HYMN OF PRAISE “Crown Him with Many Crowns” – GTG #268 CALL TO CONFESSION      Rev. Seth Thomas PRAYER OF CONFESSION God of mercy, who has compassion for the lost and the least, in disbelief and denial, we ask: “When did we see you among us?” We should have seen you in the classmate on the playground whom we did not invite to join our game. Or in the stranger on the sidewalk whom we crossed the street to avoid. Or in the neighbor at the nursing home, whom we left to carry her pain alone. We should have seen you in the man begging for work or a warm meal, in the woman struggling to overcome addiction, in the child seeking refuge from the terrors of violence. But, instead, we turned away. Forgive us, Lord. Break our hearts for what breaks yours, and give us compassion and courage to respond to the suffering of this world. Amen.
Who will we be as we await the coming of the master? Will we throw in our talents with one another or will we succumb to the worry that we…
In covenanting with God, we find a reorientation to the way of justice in the world. We prepare ourselves for this consummation by getting the oil, resting, and remaining watchful…
The bold way of Jesus calls us to be humble servant leaders. This way is counter to the narratives of power and dominance we hear so often in our world.…
When we orient our lives unto Jesus as Lord, it demands our whole self. Heart, soul, and mind are brought under the Lordship of Christ and this impacts everything we…
Sure, the coin has Caesar’s head on it. Pay your taxes. Vote. Be a good citizen. And…do it all not because it is the obligation Caesar has burdened you with.…
October 11, 2020 Bulletin Hymns Rejoice the Lord Is King GTG 363 Look Who Gathers at Christs Table GTG 506 O for a Closer Walk with God GTG 739 CALL…
October 4, 2020 BULLETIN Hymns How Firm a Foundation GTG #463 Thy Word Is a Lamp unto My Feet GTG #458 Be Thou My Vision GTG #450 CALL TO WORSHIP …
September 27, 2020 Bulletin Hymns Comfort Comfort Now My People GTG #87 At the Name of Jesus GTG #264 Fairest Lord Jesus GTG #630 CALL TO WORSHIP      Faye Hill,…
The parables and prophets of the Scriptures agitate our privileged vantage point, disrupting how we believe God's grace is "supposed to work" to illuminate the radical way of welcoming all,…

House Rules: Humility

September 13, 2020
September 13, 2020 Bulletin Hymns Come to Me O Weary Traveler – #183 Humble Thyself in the Sight of the Lord – FWS 2131 Men of Faith Rise Up and…

House Rules: Grace

September 6, 2020
  September 6, 2020 Bulletin Hymns “Almighty God” – PDF Lead Sheet “Jesu, Jesu, Fill Us with Your Love” – GTG #203 “Arise, Your Light Is Come!” – GTG #744…

House Rules: Love

August 30, 2020
In the house of God, we first and foremost seek to love God and love each other with a profound yielding, mutual, supportive posture. This is challenging in a world…
Jesus is the year of the Lord’s favor and ushers in a kingdom of forgiveness, freedom, and economic justice. August 23, 2020 Bulletin Hymns Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me…
August 16, 2020 Bulletin Hymns God Welcomes All – GTG #399 In Christ There Is No East or West – GTG #317 Take My Life – GTG #697 CALL TO…
On the Sabbath, we are instructed to "rest as if the work is done." True rest comes out of a posture of trusting in God's abundance. There is always enough...enough…
August 2, 2020 Bulletin Hymns “How Firm a Foundation” – GTG #463 “Amazing Grace” GTG #649 “What a Fellowship, What a Joy Divine” – GTG #837 CALL TO WORSHIP  Hear…
The powers of the world want to hold us back, to stop our movement home, to stifle our imagination for a world where God reigns and all is made right.…
We have been born into the empire, into the enslavement by the powers of sin. And yet we feel the groaning in our bodies, longing and hoping for what is…
Now that we have come to understand that our home is not found in the halls of the empire, come home to where you belong. Come home to your body,…
Bulletin – July 5, 2020 Hymns Praise Ye the Lord, the Almighty – GTG 35 Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing – GTG 475 We Will Go Out With Joy –…
Bulletin - June 28, 2020 Hymns My Song Forever Shall Record - GTG 67 Give Thanks for Those Whose Faith is Firm - GTG 731 Lift Every Voice and Sing…
When we are baptized, we pledge our allegiance to a leader who died before all the powers of the world. We align ourselves to a Risen Lord, who has overcome…
We thought we could stay comfortably in Rome (in the Empire) and set up our lives there. But we are (and have always been) invited to voyage to a different…
When we go into the world to baptize and teach, but we neglect a whole person of the Trinity, we find a stunted, dangerous embodiment of our faith. By acknowledging,…
Jesus is claiming to be the site of the outpouring of rivers of life-giving water. We are invited to come and drink and believe in him, from whom the Rivers…
Bulletin – May 24, 2020 Hymns Come, Christians, Join to Sing – GTG 267 At the Name of Jesus – GTG 264 All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name! – GTG 263…
In this season of Easter we’ve been looking at the ways that Jesus imparts the Resurrection Life on those who follow him, sending us out into the world as people…
Our home is found in Christ's house. It is Christ's love and knowledge of us that invites us into the family. As image bearers, we are welcomed as a part…
Jesus, the Gate, the Shepherd, the one who calls us, welcomes us as his sheep into his family. That welcome is extended to all who hear his voice, who listen,…
Jesus helps his disciples gain a new vision for what life in the Resurrection looks like. There is no going back. Bulletin – April 26, 2020 Hymns Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine!…
Jesus visits the disciples and shares with them the abundant presence of the Holy Spirit. Even through Thomas' doubts, we find a resurrection life that is filled with more from…

Easter Sunday

April 12, 2020
How remarkable that the women find the empty tomb and run to tell the good news to the rest of the disciples? As we find our churches empty, may we…
Jesus enters the city of Jerusalem to shouts of "Hosanna", but this King does not ride in for his own glory. He journeys deeper into being the suffering servant, the…
When God's people worship and praise with open hearts and joy, it is a taste of God's Reign among us on earth. We can embrace joy and wonder even as…
Jesus sees the great need for leaders to share the good news with those who long for it and empowers disciples to go out and change lives in his name.…
A vital congregation turns its focus outwards, out into the neighborhood and to the needs of the community. This is mission, to love and support the shalom of the world.…
Jesus invites the Samaritan woman to worship and be a part of a whole new way of living, drinking from the fount of living water. Our evangelism is about sharing…