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SERMONS:
Pastor Peg posts her sermons from our most recent sermon series on this page. If you are interested in reading more of her sermons you can go to pastorpeg.wordpress.com. Our last series, BESIDES JESUS, examined some of the people who walked besides Jesus and helped him, or opposed him, in his ministry of Grace. Our Current Series is The Joyful Kingdom, which will examine some of the joys that Easter brings us. Enjoy.
The Joy of God’s Love
May 3, 2026 5th Sunday of Easter Communion
Romans 8:31-39 John 3:16-1
Do you know that the ancient Greeks defined nine different types of Love? In the 1st century, when Jesus was talking about the love of God, for 300 years Greek philosophy, thought, and language had permeated the Middle East. And since Greek was the international language of the time, even a simple peasant in Israel would know some Greek words. So, all the people who Jesus talked to about love, would have had an understanding of the various types of love.
Now I’m not going to give you all nine definitions, but I want to point out two things. First, that these definitions include both positive and negative aspects of love. For instance, back then the word MANIA described the obsessive love that is unhealthy for a person to have that can lead to abuse and violence. On the other hand, MERAKI describes creative love, which applys to the devotion that you put into something that you really like to do like an art, or even a sport, job, or craft.
But the most important words and concepts that related to Jesus’ lessons on love are: Agape, unconditional love; Phila, spiritual love; Storge, devoted love of friends and family; and Philautia, self-love. These words reflect the two great commandments: To love God with your whole being, and to love your neighbor as you love yourself.
God’s love has been described as Agape – that God loves us unconditionally. Now unconditional love doesn’t mean that you can just do anything and get away with it because someone’s love for you is unconditional. It’s not love without consequence. I love my children unconditionally and I will always love them even when they do the wrong thing.
When my son was little, before he understood the concept of money, he took a little car from the neighborhood toy store. I found out when I saw him playing with it. Apparently, his friend, who also didn’t understand money or credit cards, saw his mother buy something in a store without money and he thought she got it for free. Therefore, he thought he could just take a little toy for free and both he and my son each took a car. This was a life lesson for my son. We took the car back to the store, explained to the manager what had happened and apologized; paid for the car; and then my son had to do chores around the house to pay me back the amount that I had paid.
Was I angry and disappointed? Yes, but just a little. Did I understand that he still hadn’t gotten the concept of money? Yes, and we worked on that. Did he have to face consequences? Oh, yeah. I didn’t love the incident, but I never stopped loving him because of that incident. I love him simply for who is: My son, a human being, and a child of God.
That’s how God loves us, with Agape love. He knows we don’t always get it; He knows we mess up. But he loves us anyway. And sometimes when we mess up, we hide away and we don’t think that we’re worthy of love. But there is always forgiveness from God, which gives us the strength to face the consequences when we do mess up.
Because we know that God is on our side, we can face the problems we create as well as the problems that the world creates for us. That is what Paul is talking about. The line With God on our side like this, how can we lose? Is traditionally spoken as: If God is for us who can be against us? It does not mean: Since I believe in God and Jesus, I am right and have the moral high-ground. Paul is talking about our own fallibility and how we cope with it in order to be and become better people who are more loving. If we are more loving then we are more patient, more generous, more forgiving, more compassionate, and more faithful to ourselves, others, and God. And because we have that love from God, we are able to make it through all the hard times that the world dishes out to us.
That’s what agape does for us. But our love for God is also Phila, or spiritual love, the kind of love when you have a strong spiritual relationship with someone. The word implies spiritual connection, trust, the sharing of values, and shared goals and happiness. That’s very much the parameters of faith. We become aware of the grace and presence of God through Christ. Then we realize that we share the values of Christ, and our goal is to grow in our faith and understanding. We trust that the Holy Spirit will lead us in actions of love, and the result is happiness and lasting joy.
The next love is Storge, the devoted love that we have for family and friends. This is directly related to the second commandment: To love our neighbors. Now the word neighbor literally means the person next to you, so that includes your family, and friends, and the people next door, and the person you’re standing online with at the store. Your neighbor is whoever is in contact with you at the moment. But as our faith matures so does our love, and we are able to see that it’s not only our community but the whole world that is our neighbor.
Today we are coming to God’s table to celebrate communion. And I challenge you to think about the fact that all across America, in North and South America, and in the rest of the world, there are other people partaking in this ceremony at the same time we are. We are connected to them through communion and God’s love. The next time you’re in a store take a minute to recognize in your heart the neighbors surrounding you.
And finally, there is the second part of that commandment: To love ourselves. That is Philautia, self-love. And now we circle back to God again, because when we know that we are loved and forgiven by God we can love and forgive ourselves. And we can turn around and love and forgive others.
Now there is a scary bit of scripture in Romans that I want to clarify for you. Paul says: They kill us in cold blood because they hate you. We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.
I’m actually not fond of this more modern translation; I prefer the more traditional leading a lamb to slaughter. (It’s not about ducks.) Which is still grim, but Paul is referring to Isaiah 53:7 and it’s meant to refer to the traditional sacrifice of the Passover lamb and Isaiah was also referencing the coming Messiah. Paul is reminding people that Jesus gave his life so that we would not have keep sacrificing ourselves on our own altar of guilt. God wants us to get out of the guilt loop where we spiral down into our own shame when we do something wrong, and we can’t recover and continually feel unworthy and cut off from God. Jesus paid the price so that we don’t have to keep paying it in our hearts and minds. And that is why we are never cut off from God.
As Paul says: Absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.
None of this love stands alone. The great thing about it is that it all feeds off of one another and becomes stronger the more we give it, receive it, practice it, and live in it. When we live in love, we gain happiness. And happiness is like a savings account. The more you put into it the bigger it gets and gradually grows into joy that is everlasting. And then one day you have such a store of joy that even in dark times you can find a measure of comfort and hope, because you know you are living in God’s love.
This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. May we be blessed in God’s love always.
The Joy of God’s Pace
April 26, 2026 4th Sunday of Easter
1 John 2:15-17 Matthew 6:25-34
Yesterday I manned a water-table at the 5k in Stamford. The Hobart Rotary Club handed out water and energy gummy packets to the runners. We were well equipped with water and paper cups, but I think because it was cooler than most race days not a lot of people wanted water. We only went through about half a gallon and most of the energy gummies were snapped up by the kids who were running with their parents. We had a lot of fun cheering for the runners, and the people who did take the water seemed to be very grateful to have some.
Now I am not a runner – I’ve never had the knees for it. But I’ve worked for several races, and several of my friends have been runners, and my brothers have all done track at one time, so I know that a sprint is very different from a run.
In a sprint you take off with a burst of energy and try to maintain or increase that energy so you can maintain or increase your speed and get to your goal as quickly as possible. However, in a run, especially a longer run, you have to set a pace at the beginning that you’re going to maintain for the whole distance. My friends have told me that you need to be careful about your starting pace, because when you first start a race, you’re often very excited and raring to go, and it is so easy to start at too fast a pace and then lose your energy halfway through. You have to tamp down that enthusiasm a little and force yourself to start a little slower than what your mind thinks your body can do. A friend of mine once said: I can always go faster later if I start at a good pace that I know I can maintain.
And that got me thinking: When we have a new project that we want to do – how often do we start out with a whole bunch of enthusiasm and rush into something only to become discouraged because we find that it’s going to take longer, or require more effort, than we thought? I know I’ve been guilty of that. Many of us start out projects in our lives as if they’re a sprint, not a long run. Then we get tired and, if we don’t change our pace and accept that things are going to take longer or need more effort, we burn out and don’t finish the project.
I think that part of the problem for our impatience is that we do want to be successful at what we do. There isn’t anything wrong with that, but I think that because of social media, films, and television, we’re led to believe that things should happen a lot faster than they do in real life. Especially in television, time gets suspended or compressed and a problem seems to be solved in a very short time. Who remembers CSI? It always seemed that DNA and forensic lab tests happened within a 24-hour period, and all the suspects seemed to be interviewed in a couple of days, solving the case within a week at the most. In real life, lab-tests often take up to one week if not longer, and interviewing people is not that fast an occurrence.
Life takes time and a bit of effort. It takes time and effort to knit a sweater, to bake a cake, to do your homework, or clean out the garage. It takes time and effort to learn a new job, or to start and grow a business. It takes time and effort to develop a relationship with someone, whether it’s a friend or someone romantic. Life doesn’t happen quickly.
This week I’m preaching on pacing ourselves with God. And not being so caught up in our lives as if they were a sprint is one way to connect with God. When we slow down our pace, when we stop forcing things to happen as quickly as possible, we can enjoy the experience of life as it unfolds before us. We can take the time to enjoy what we are doing rather than worry about getting to the end RIGHT NOW! We live more with our blessings than with our frustrations and we give ourselves the time see how God is working in our lives.
But there is another side to God’s pace. Jesus says: Don’t love the world’s ways, which I think is an indication to step back a little from the hustle and bustle that the world says we should be in. And he also says: Don’t love the world’s goods; don’t get caught up with materialism. In both of our scriptures Jesus tells us that we shouldn’t be worried about acquiring things.
I think it’s natural for us to want to get stuff to be comfortable. It’s more comfortable to sleep on a bed than on the floor. It’s easier to cook food with a stove top and an oven rather than over an open fire – safer too. A washing machine for clothes is a lot more convenient than a wash tub or a local stream. But how much do we really need to be comfortable? Do you know that one of the biggest real estate boom in America isn’t new housing but storage units? Yep folks, we have so much stuff that we’re buying it separate houses. Or that most people only wear 20% of their wardrobe consistently – the other 80% is only worn some of time or for special occasions. (Come on, we all have that favorite shirt that we wear once a week.)
And it’s not even having stuff that’s really the problem. It is the thought that acquiring more stuff will somehow make us happy. Acquiring more stuff might make us more comfortable, but it will not guarantee happiness or joy.
Now the majority of people who Jesus was talking to in the 1st century were really poor. Most only had one set of clothing to wear: An undergarment, like a long t-shirt, an overgarment, and a robe that was often used as a blanket. Most of them lived as tenet farmers or estate workers and lived in a one or two room house 6-foot square. A lot of their food was cooked on an open fire in one pot, which was then set in the middle a mat, and then people sat in a circle around it and ate from it using their hands. Often they didn’t have plates, your piece of flat bread was what you put your food on. Jesus was talking to people who had the bare minimum and who wanted more, just to be comfortable.
Plus, they were unfortunately living with a cultural belief that if you were poor that meant that God wasn’t blessing you, because you weren’t being holy enough in your life. Often poor people couldn’t follow all the strict laws of Judaism because they didn’t have the resources. It was a catch 22 for them that they never could act holy enough, and therefore be holy enough, and therefore never be loved or blessed by God.
Can you imagine how they felt when Jesus said to them that all that acquisition of wealth doesn’t matter? That God loves you anyway. I love when he says: Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? Well, maybe if we wear high heels, we get taller, but that’s just artifice. I’m still 5’8” whether I’m wearing heels or flats. Has anyone ever become a kinder person by buying a Mercedes Benz or a helicopter? I don’t think so!
Being a kind person means that you help people out, and that you treat people with dignity and respect. A follower of Jesus is supposed to feed the hungry, help the sick, and support those in need. Jesus also tells us to go out into the fields and look at the wildflowers to see how beautiful they are. To go and watch the birds and see how much enjoyment they get out of life just flying around. He’s trying to get us to see our blessings in this beautiful world and to find God in this beautiful world. We can’t find our blessings and God in the wanting and getting of stuff, stuff, stuff.
In one of my churches there was a group of women who loved jigsaw puzzles. Now to do jigsaw puzzles you have to buy them, but anytime someone bought a jigsaw puzzle, new or used, (they were crazy-mad thrift store shoppers) they would pass it on to someone else once they finished it. And there was no rush – everyone did the puzzle in their own time. That was a sharing of their blessings and an act of love among each other. How many times do we share our blessings with each other?
God’s pace is to relax and enjoy the experiences of our lives as they come to us, and to spend time with those we love. And to do that we need to step away from the franticness of the world that calls us to want, need, and buy things we don’t need, which aren’t going to give us joy or connect us to God anyway. God’s pace involves enjoying our blessings and sharing our blessings with each other. And then to thank God for them, thereby connecting with him in our hearts, minds and souls.
So, the next time you want that helicopter, think for a minute: Is this going to help connect me with God’s love through the love of those around me? If the answer is NO, maybe you need to spend your time in a different way that will connect you with others and will, in turn, find yourself connecting with God and His love. After all, whoever does want God is set for eternity.
The Joy of God’s Way
April 19, 2026 3rd Sunday of Easter
Galatians 5:22-26 Matthew 7:7-15
Every time I read a scripture, I notice something different. This time what struck me in Matthew was the last section: Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention.
In my early twenties, I was into self-help books. I loved to go to the local bookstore and browse through that section. And you know, they all have a target audience. I admit that I mostly stuck to the ones that were for my age, gender, and demographic. Some of them weren’t helpful, some of them were MEH, but some of them really got me thinking and gave me good pointers. And they all tell you that if you followed their system, the step-by-step process that each of them had, you would supposedly get a handle on your life, improve it, and you would be on the road to happiness.
Now I do not disparage self-help books. Different people need different kinds of help and motivation at different points of their lives. And there was one book that really got me thinking about the possibilities that I had in my life, and in doing the exercises I acknowledged that I had always wanted to travel to the Orient. And about a year and a half later I was teaching in Japan.
However, I don’t think that any of those self-help books taught me how to be happy, even though that was one of their promises. They taught me how to discern my priorities and how to rank them; how to focus my energies; and how to evaluate and re-evaluate my methods for getting things done. But they did not teach me how to be happy or how to find joy.
Joy is not happiness. Happiness depends on circumstance; Joy is deeper than that. Joy can happen when you have a moment of happiness, but joy can be with you even when you aren’t happy in the moment. Joy is when you have a certainty inside you, even in bad times, that you’re going to be okay. Joy is when you can see your blessings, even in dark times. Joy is knowing that you are connected to others and God, even when you’re alone.
I was catching up with my Lenten coin jar the other day. I had put a copy of the daily sheet to my kitchen door, and every time that I did one of the challenges, like figure out how many shoes or pillows I had, I crossed it out so I would know that I had done it. It struck me, when I was counting how many things I had, that this exercise was a sneaky way to remind me of how many blessings are in my life. Even stuff we take for granted, like toothbrushes and toothpaste. There are places in the world where people don’t have those, and I do.
That made me feel good, because I had some assurance of my privilege and good circumstances. But it also made me feel a little concerned for those people who don’t have what I have. That’s empathy, which is such a huge part of being a Christian.
Hmmm – didn’t Jesus say something about: Here is a simple, rule-of-thumb guide for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them. When we think of what we want and need, that is what others want and need too. What do we want? We want to be treated with fairness and dignity. We want the world to make and have a safe space for us to learn, and grow, and prosper – Not in a greedy way, just in a living and having enough way. We want to be loved, and we want to love others. We want to have meaningful connection. But we can’t just wait for it to happen, we have to actively participate.
Jesus was trying to get his disciples on the right path to God. Now walking the path to God requires us to pay attention to two parts of our lives. We need to take care of our inner life and ourselves so that we can have a better connection with God. We need to take care of our physical bodies: Get enough sleep, eat healthy, and exercise. We need to meditate, and pray, and study so that we can better know how to deal with our emotions; stretch our minds so we don’t stop learning; and practice connecting to the Holy Spirit.
Doing all this helps us to get stronger so that we can then take ourselves to the outside world. And in the outside world that’s where meet, make, and nurturing our relationships by expressing our love for others in our words and actions.
Jesus gives us a strange image in this scripture: If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? He’s using the parent-child image to illustrate the actions that God wouldn’t do to us, His children. I think he’s also using some shock images to get people to think.
How many people do we know who say one thing and do another? Who pretend to be friendly to you and then turn around and are anything but friendly. People who demand from you, but when you need help they are nowhere to be found. And unfortunately, how many times do we behave that way? (And many times we don’t realize what we’re doing.) We’re all human, but one of our joys is that God loves us anyway, even though we stumble on our path.
Jesus says: Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This isn’t a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we’re in. God doesn’t play hard-to-get. All through the Old and New Testaments he’s direct. He tells us: Love God with all your being. Love the people around you as you love yourself. And love me as I have loved you. Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with God. The Ten Commandments aren’t the ten suggestions. Add up God’s Law and Prophets and this is what you get. All of these are actions and attitudes that keep us on the path to God.
But the world is very distracting. It tells you that you don’t need to rely on anyone but yourself. That the way to get respect is to dominate people and keep them beneath you. You need to look out for yourself and no one else. Status is more important that kindness. And the status quo is more important than justice and fairness, and providing dignity to people, so don’t change anything for the better because you’ll just upset the apple cart.
Like that isle in the bookstore, which sells systems that will supposedly make you happy, the world is going to try to sell all of us a seemingly self-centered, easy way that might give us temporary happiness but will not give us lasting joy. Jesus’s way is direct – but it does take attention, commitment and work. But all of that practicing does have benefits. As Paul says: We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
Now I admit that right now the world seems to be overwhelming. We have economic uncertainty, we have a war, we have hate and negativity in our media and social media. And I so get why people are tired, and discouraged, and uncertain. But even at this moment we can live in joy if we care for those around us with kindness, compassion, generosity, and love. We can recharge ourselves if we allow ourselves to spend some time meditating, reading, and journaling. Or even just talking with God while we do a hobby like knitting, gardening, or wood working. Put yourself into an infinite loop of self-care and connecting with God, then give your love and care out to those around you. Then return to yourself to recharge and then do it again.
It might not seem like you’re doing anything to make the world better, but you are. We all have a circle of influence and in that circle, you can create a space of love, joy and hope. In that circle you are traveling that road to God, with Jesus and the Holy Spirit walking next to you. It’s a place where you can rest in joy during the bad times and happiness during the good. And the joy that you find will be increased, and ripple out, when you share it with others. And in walking the way of God we will find our blessings.
The Joy of Reconciliation
April 12, 2026 2nd Sunday of Easter
2 Corinthians 5:17-21 Mark 1:9-15
Welcome to the 50 days of Easter! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! This is the time after Jesus is Resurrected and before he ascends to heaven. And we have a couple of scriptures that show us where he met disciples during this time. He appeared to them in the upper room, to a travelling couple on the road to Emmaus, and he had breakfast with them by the Sea of Galilee. As Karen Monk, our district Superintendent said: Jesus is a savior on the loose.
When I heard that I thought, you know, Jesus probably appeared to a lot more people than just the ones we have from our Gospel stories. I'm sure that he was visiting disciples all over Israel. Wouldn’t that be a joyous moment to have Jesus walk into your front yard while you’re hanging out the laundry and tell you that he was risen?
During this season of Easter, we’re going to be preaching a sermon series: The Joyous Kingdom about what Easter gives us that’s joyful. And the first sermon is about reconciliation.
Paul wrote in his 2nd letter to the Corinthian church: All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.
When Paul wrote this letter the Corinthian church was in conflict. The church was a mixture of Jewish people and gentiles. And since Corinth was a major trading port, to promote good business relationships Corinth allowed anyone to open up a temple or shrine to their God so that while they were in town they had a place to worship. It’s been estimated that there were well over 150 different religions represented.
You can imagine if two different religions merge to form a new religion, it could be sticky working out what traditions to keep or to get rid of. Paul is trying to get a large number of people from different religions, with a bunch of different ways of worshiping, to decide how this new church is going to worship God. That sounds like a lot more conflict and stickiness than just two groups. Paul tells them that they need to make their decisions based on the Christian ethos and belief. For instance, you couldn’t do animal sacrifices since Christ made the final sacrifice by sacrificing himself. Blood sacrifices – out.
Instead of people saying: Well, I like this tradition, how can we plug it into Christianity? Paul is saying: First look at what Christ’s message is and then see if even helps to illuminate who we should be as Christians. Since God reconciled himself to us through Christ, we need to use Christ to reconcile ourselves to each other.
But what does reconcile mean in the context of ourselves or our community?
To Reconcile is a verb which covers a lot of bases. The first meaning is to restore people or situations to friendship or harmony, like when you have a disagreement with someone and then you come to some sort of compromise that the two of you can work with together. It also means or to come to an agreement on, or a solution, like when you figure out in a family meeting how and where you are going to go on vacation. It also means to make something consistent, like when a bookkeeper puts all the spending, income, and the savings in the right categories and you know where all your money is. Finally, it means to accept something unpleasant, like I have reconciled myself to the fact that my kids want to live in Japan right now. (I have to accept that decision since it's their life descisions.)
But what do we mean when we say that God reconciled us to himself through Christ? Does it mean that we can have a friendship or harmony with him? Does it mean that we have found an agreement or an answer to a problem? Does it mean that we have put our mind hearts and souls into alignment with God? Does it mean that we are accepting unpleasant things about ourselves and possibly our relationship with God?
I would say all of the above in three ways. Christ’s life – living with us, dying like us, and then coming to life for us, reconciles us to God.
Christ living with us shows us that we can have a personal relationship with God and that God understands us because he lived as us. This means that we can ask him directly to help us. The dean of my seminary once said to us: Don’t be afraid to ask God the hard questions. He’s seen it all before and he can handle it. If you’re having problems you can cry to God, yell at God, complain to God. After all, if Jesus is our brother and friend shouldn’t we be able to vent to him when we need to? Yes, share your joys as well as your sorrows – God can handle it all.
Christ dying for us releases us from always having to live with the weight of our sins crushing us. When we do something wrong, we can fall down that rabbit hole of despair by believing that we can never be good enough or make things right enough. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t feel remorse or guilt – they can be the emotions that indicate to us that we need to fix something. But it is easy to get trapped in those emotions and freeze yourself into inaction. By remembering that Christ died for us and paid, what was known in the ancient world, as the blood fee for atonement, we don’t have to keep sacrificing our emotions and mental health. We can say: I have God on my side, and I can work on making things right. And this works for when we hurt ourselves or the people around us. Because we know we are forgiven we can forgive and ask for forgiveness, and work on reconciling, or restoring the balance.
Christ coming to life again for us solved the question of: Is there anything beyond this? And the fact that Christ died, and then came back, is proof positive that the next stage in our soul journey, that we call heaven, exists, and that we also have access to that place beyond this life. Which answers the question: Is this whole life worth it? Since there is something beyond, it is worth it to work on becoming better people, so we are ready to go into the next life.
And when we become better people, we put our hearts, minds, and soul onto one aligned path that leads us to better relationships with those around us. And positivity like that tends to spread.
I took a very specific required course once where there were five of us in the class, and when the professor asked everyone how they felt about being there, three of the students said that they felt that this course was a waste of time.
Then it was my turn and I said I was happy to be here because I knew that I was going to find answers to problems, and that I was looking forward to learning the material and techniques. This was not brown-nosing. I actually took this course to solve problems, and I thought that going in with a negative attitude wasn’t going to help.
And you know, later the three other students, who were younger and had less experience, asked me: Do you really think this is going to help? I had a chance to tell them why it would help, and they started to see that maybe this was a good idea. And they reconciled themselves to what they thought was going to be a horrible event, and by the end it was a positive one for them.
Now reconciling doesn’t always mean that everything becomes positive. But it does mean that we can find our way through the negative into something that is better because we have the support of knowing that we have a relationship with God Jesus and the Holy Spirit. That is a place to rest in joy. Even when things are going terribly you can say: I am reconciled to God. I have a friendship and relationship with Him. I have the mean to solve my problems through Him. I can learn and become a better person through this experience. And because of all that I can accept this unpleasantness that is happening right now.
I am sure that some people in Corinth wanted to solve their problems the easy way: All of you just accept what we want and we can get on with things. But reconciliation takes some time and some work. Because of Christ reconciliation is always there for us, but we’ve got to get in there and do the work of listening, evaluating, compromising and aligning with Christ to make it work.
And yes, that is sticky and frustrating, but it also leads to joy that we are able to make it through the tough stuff. So don’t be afraid to confront what needs to be done. Keep yourself aligned with Christ, work on putting right what’s around you, and you will find yourself living Joy in the Divine Parent with our brother Jesus and our sister the Holy Spirit.
Mary, Mary, and Salome
April 5, 2026 Easter Sunday
Mark 16:1-8 John 20:11-18
All the Gospels have a slightly different version of the resurrection. In Mark, three women go to the tomb: Salome, the mother of James and John, Mary Magdelene, the woman who Jesus saved from demons, and Mary the mother of the other James. In John, only Mary Magdelene is noted at the tomb. In both Gospels they find the tomb open and the grave clothes remaining but no sign of Jesus. In Mark the women encounter an angel and become frightened and run away and they are so scared that they don’t tell anyone what they saw. In John, Mary encounters Jesus and is the first to spread the good news of his resurrection.
Why are they different? Well, the Gospels were written at different times by different people. Mark was written around 70-85 CE, and was probably a compilation from various people who knew Jesus and witnessed his events. It’s the shortest Gospel because people didn’t think it was necessary to write down all the stories since people still remembered them. The Gospels after Mark gradually get bigger since people are trying to record more of the Jesus story. Matthew is thought to be written next, probably just a few years later. Then Luke in the 80’s and then John in the 90’s.
But in all the Gospels it’s always the women who go to the tomb and find it empty and encounter an angel or Jesus. Why are the women there and not the men? You would think that the male disciples would want to go and mourn Jesus just as much as the women would.
There are a few reasons for this. First, there's fear. Jesus had been put on trial and crucified as an enemy of the Roman state. Yes, the temple authorities promoted this by claiming that since Jesus was being named the Jewish King, he was opposing Caesar. But it was only the Romans who could carry out a death penalty for either the act of murder or for political sedition, which was the sentence that Jesus was given. Anybody in or associated with Jesus' movement could also be brought to trial under this charge. The women weren’t on the Temple’s radar, but the men were. So, the men were lying low.
Second, Jesus had been crucified on the 1st day of Passover before the sun went down. He had to be put into the tomb quickly and the body was probably only minimally prepared for burial. The women are bringing spices to anoint the body to complete the preparations that couldn't be finished on the day of his death. They couldn't do it the day after he died because it was in the middle of Passover. They had to wait until the Passover feast was completed and then they could finish preparing the body.
Men typically didn’t do this work. Women were the ones who were in charge of this. And remember, Jesus has been dead for more than 24 hours, so the women need to get this job finished as soon as possible. They go to the tomb when the sky is just beginning to lighten so that they will be there when the sun comes up. At that moment they will be permitted by Jewish custom to take care of the body. They’ve brought all their equipment: Spices, water, probably extra fabric. And their big worry is: Will they be able to move the stone so they can start as soon as possible before the heat of the day kicks in? They don't want to lose a minute of time.
And they get to the tomb – and the world changes. Nothing is what they’ve planned for, or what it’s supposed to be.
The two Gospel reactions are great examples of how we react to our encounters with God when they change our lives and our world gets rearranged.
Sometimes, we’re scared. Who is going to believe that this happened? Who’s going to believe us? Are we going to be rejected? Will people think we’re crazy? Will we lose friends if we bring them this news? I think the women in Mark really felt that there was no way to explain what they witnessed to be believable.
But sometimes when our world changes we are compelled to share with someone what has happened; if only to verify, in some way, what we’ve witnessed. In John, only Mary Magdelene is mentioned, but I think that’s because John wanted to emphasize Mary’s reaction of the astonishment and concern that she first has when she finds the tomb empty. It would not have been proper for Mary to have gone on her own to the tomb; she would have gone with others. I can see that the women who went with her might have been afraid and not wanted to say anything. But Mary felt that she had to tell someone, so she goes to confide in Peter and John. The three of them then go to see the tomb, and remember they all still think that this is some sort of grave robbery or violation. And after the men go inside to check out the grave clothes and then leave, Jesus appears to Mary. And then Mary goes and joyfully tells Peter and John, and then all the other disciples, what Jesus has told her. This is why Mary is called the apostle to the apostles, because she brings the good news of the resurrection to them. She’s the one who begins to turn the sorrow and despair of the last few days into joy and hope.
One of the miracles of Christ is that the unbelievable happens. It was unbelievable that God would willingly be incarnated into a human being. It was unbelievable that someone could be so powerful that they could heal lepers, and cripples, and blind people with a touch. It was unbelievable that he could raise people from the dead. It was unbelievable that he could bring a message of love, and hope, and forgiveness from God, and that it was for everyone. It was unbelievable that this person who never spoke against Rome, and only preached love, would be crucified as a seditious traitor. And it is unbelievable that he rose from the dead and proved to us that he was the Messiah, and that there is a place for us beyond this one.
It’s all unbelievable. And yet, it happened. Miracles are the unbelievable made believable. And that is at once terrifying and exaltingly joyful.
Sometimes the power of our faith scares us, and we don’t know what to do with it, because it points to change, or asks us to change, and we’re only human and we need time to process. I am sure Mary and Salome did come to joy and sharing eventually. They just needed some time to figure out how to live with this new reality. So, when you have moments of connecting to God that rearranges your world, and it seems like it’s too much, don’t shut it out. Let it live in your heart and soul for a while and give yourself time to lean into it. And you’ll be shown what to do with it and how to navigate the newness in your life.
But sometimes our faith shows us what is amazingly possible; and when that happens, we need to share those revelations with others. Because when possibilities open for us, they will open up for all the people around us. We don’t change in a vacuum, and joy is contagious and well worth sharing. So share your new possibilities and let God’s love and possibilities spread out from you to others.
Breath in the possibilities of this Easter morning; both the scary newness and the infinite possibilities that are there for you. And remember that as Christians, every day for us is Easter; every day is a resurrection song; every day is a new hope and promise that was given to you 2,000 years ago, and will continue now and forever in and with Christ.
The Crowds
March 29, 2026 Palm Sunday
Mark 11:1-11 Mark 15:6-15
In our Besides Jesus series, we looked at some people who interacted with Jesus during his ministry.
John the Baptist helped Jesus get started by legitimizing him as a holy man. Peter showed us how he grew as a person when he became a disciple, gaining self-worth and personal holiness, despite all the mistakes he made. The Scribes and Pharisees revealed how Jesus confronted corrupt people within a corrupt system. Nicodemus demonstrated how a person can gradually come to Christ if they keep their heart and mind open. Andrew and Philip taught us how we can be gentle evangelicals and connect with different kinds of people by saying to them, “come and see.”
Today we’re going to talk about The Crowds. Specifically, two different crowds that hap happened during Jesus’ Passion Week.
But all through his ministry, Jesus has been interacting with crowds. There’s the crowd that he addressed during his sermon on the mount. The crowd that was sitting on the beach when he preached in Peter’s fishing boat. The large crowd that he preached to, and then fed, the loaves and fish to. There’s the crowd that surrounded the house where the roof was taken off and the crippled man was lowered in front of him. There was the crowd that surrounded him when the woman with an open wound touched him and was healed.
These are all positive examples, but there's also a negative example that happens at the beginning of Jesus' ministry. When he first goes into his hometown of Nazareth and he preaches at the synagogue the townspeople reject his proclamation that the prophecy of the Messiah is being fulfilled. Jesus doesn't say that he himself is the Messiah -- he just says that it’s being fulfilled.
But because the townspeople grew up with him, they get angry at this. Maybe they thought that that he's trying to make himself to be better than they are. They cannot believe that Joseph the carpenter's son has the right to make these pronouncements, and to them he is blaspheming. So, the crowd grabs him and takes him out of town to throw him off the cliff. But Jesus somehow calms them, walks right through them, and never returns to Nazareth.
It's interesting that Jesus starts and ends his ministry with an angry crowd.
It’s obvious that once Jesus got a name for himself, people showed up to hear him preach and to watch him heal. And during the three years he’s crisscrossing Roman-Palestine, and venturing a bit outside of the territory, he’s collecting more followers. People are listening to this message and spreading the word about what he says to their neighbors.
People didn't have books, TV's, or video games. Their main source of entertainment was talking to their neighbors and listening to stories. Either the stories of their culture like David and Goliath; or stories like The Fox and the Grapes from Aesop’s fables; or stories of personal memories, like the time uncle Eli left the donkey untied and we finally found it, and the cart, in the field, on the other side of town.
So, when Jesus came to town it was an event. Jesus must have been a dynamic public speaker! I’m sure that what we have in the Gospel is not the completeness of everything he said. What we read is so inspiring on paper that I am sure that to listen to him talk must have been mind-blowing and amazing to people. And after he left, those who had heard him would talk about what he had said to each other and their neighbors.
So, by the time Jesus gets to Jerusalem, he’s built up a following of people who have listened to his message of love and forgiveness, and witnessed his healing powers. There is anticipation that they will see him this Passover while they are in Jerusalem. And then he comes riding into town on a donkey. This is highly symbolic because a king would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey when he declared peace, as opposed to riding on a horse when he is declaring war.
And the crowd goes a little nuts, in a happy way. They spread their cloaks on the road, which is a symbolic way of offering your allegiance to someone. And they wave palm branches as they would when a king came home victorious, or when they were celebrating a festival of God’s deliverance, which is what Passover is. And people were shouting or singing, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
People got caught up in a moment of hope and happiness. Of the possibility of good things. And I bet that that feeling was infectious and drew people in who didn’t know who Jesus was. So, all those people who did know Jesus told those who didn’t know about him. And maybe some of those new people sought him out during the week while he was preaching around Jerusalem.
However, I'm sure that there were some people who were highly offended by what was happening. I'm sure that there were people in the crowd who thought that Jesus was laying claim to a position that he wasn’t entitled to; that of king of Israel. You see the donkey, the cloaks thrown down, the palms waving, and the shouting of blessed is the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David seemed to them that he was accepting an endorsement of becoming the King of Israel. Who was he to declare that or put himself in a position to receive that honor? So, all during that week while Jesus is in Jerusalem, preaching, teaching and healing, there’s also a faction of people who don't believe in him or think that he’s a dangerous individual. And that maybe he needs to be gotten rid of.
The crowd in the trial is the opposite of the procession. Instead of people welcoming him who know him, and looking forward to the change that the Messiah may bring, we have people opposing him because they don't believe that he could possibly be the Messiah. And they fear change; they want things to stay the same. These are the people who show up for the trial. And like the procession, they're probably drawing in a lot of like-minded people who are willing to be a part of the support system for Jesus's crucifixion.
There’s been a lot written about mob mentality and how people get caught up in movements. When you’re inside a crowd you’re ensconced in a collective mindset. If you agree with the mindset, you’re comfortable and feel safe so you will go along with whatever happens. But if you don't agree with the mindset then there is fear involved and either you will walk away, or keep silent and observe, or you will start to agree with those around you simply because you don't feel safe enough to disagree.
And it doesn’t even have to be a big crowd; it can be a group of people. Look at what Peter did when a group accused him of being a member of Jesus’ disciples because they recognized his accent. Peter denied Jesus three times, because he was afraid.
But we would never do that, right?
These are big crowds in our story. But peer pressure is peer pressure, no matter what the size of the group. And sometimes we are persuaded by the group to not stand up for justice or fairness when we see injustice or unfairness. How many times have we said nothing to bullies because we’re in a crowd? How many times have we said nothing against racism, or misogyny, or any kind of prejudice? How many times have we been silent because we don’t want to go against the status quo? It’s easy to be a part of the procession-crowd but hard to stand against the trial-crowd. And do not disparage those people who didn’t, because I am sure that that particular crowd was very ugly, full of hate, and would have beaten up anyone who spoke against them for Jesus.
How do we counter the crowds of hate? One way is to go one-on-one with people. Listen to their stories, and their fears, and counter it with Christ’s love. And another way is to create your crowd of people who are dedicated to Christ’s love who can stand with you. And yes, that should be the church. This is our safe space to tell our stories about Jesus and what he means to us. But we can take this space and create it out there, by living and sharing the love of God and Jesus.
What crowd do you want to be in? What crowd do you want to create around you? I know that I’m going to try going for the joyous processional. But I hope that when I meet the other that I will have the courage to be the voice for Jesus and his love.
Andrew and Philip
March 19 & 22, 2026 5th Sunday in Lent
John 1:35-42 John 1:43-46
In the first three synoptic gospels, Peter meets Jesus when he's fishing on the Sea of Galilee. In John’s Gospel, Andrew and Peter are in the wilderness being baptized by John the Baptist, and they meet Jesus while they are camping by the river. I’ll try to resolve this discrepancy in a bit, but today we’re going to introduce you to Andrew and Philip, the first of Jesus’ evangelists.
It’s mentioned that Andrew is a disciple of John’s. Now being a disciple of a holy man did not necessarily mean that you had to follow him around all over the place. I can imagine that Andrew met John the Baptist at some point, then Andrew went to the river Jordan to be baptized. It’s even possible that he went home and returned with his brother Simon-Peter, or that Peter went with him on the first trip. It was while they were by the river that John said to Andrew: There is the Messiah. And Andrew went to talk to Jesus.
The Gospel isn’t clear if this is before or after Jesus’ forty-day fast, but I think it was after because, in the Gospel, John testifies to having baptized Jesus already. It is quite possible that Jesus came out of the desert after his fast and stayed in John’s camp for a few days to recover from his ordeal.
John made it very clear that he was not the Messiah but that everyone should prepare themselves to be ready to receive the Messiah when he did come. John knew that it was time for Jesus to begin his ministry, and that he was going to need to start collecting his own set of disciples to help spread the word of God's love. He says directly to Andrew: There is the Messiah. He must have trusted Andrew's judgment and felt that he would be a person who could help Jesus in his ministry. Andrew, after speaking with Jesus, goes and gets his brother Simon and brings him to meet Jesus, and Jesus gives him the name of Peter. The brothers Andrew and Peter become the first two disciples of Jesus.
Jesus then goes to Galilee. I think that the brother’s went home to their village of Bethsaida, and Jesus went to Nazareth where he preached in the synagogue and then got thrown out of town. He then went to Andrew and Peter’s town and preached in their boat on the Sea of Galilee and then told Peter and Andrew to lower their nets. This is when they pull in the huge catch and Peter tells Jesus to get away from him because he’s a sinful man. I think that Peter didn’t quite believe that Jesus was who John said he was until that point. But after that he did accept him as a holy man, if not the Messiah. (I think that all of the disciples had to think about that possibility for a while before they could fully accept it.)
Then Philip is introduced to Jesus and also becomes a disciple. Philip then goes to recruit Nathanial, who is skeptical. Nathanial says, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” And Philip replies, “Come and see.”
That line can anything good come out of Nazareth always puzzled me. Seems a little rude, don’t you think? So, I did a bit research and found out a few things that might have led to Nathaniel feeling this way.
First, Nazareth was an insignificant village, with population of only about 400, not connected to any trade routes and tucked away in the countryside. Nathanial is expressing a common sentiment that the Messiah, a figure of great importance, could not possibly come from such an unremarkable place. (Although I feel personally that it was a perfect place for Jesus's parents to hide him and keep him safe while he was growing up.) Also, some scholars have suggested that the town might have had a reputation for something bad that had happened in the past, socially or morally, causing Nathanial to have a prejudice against it.
But I think that the most significant reason that Nathanial is skeptical is that there were no direct prophecies about the Messiah coming from Nazareth. Micah points to Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Messiah, which is where Jesus was born, and I imagine that a lot of people assumed that the Messiah would have grown up in Bethlehem. Although we know that wasn't possible because Herod the Great killed all the baby boys under two years of age, when he learned that Jesus, the future King of the Jews, was to be born in Bethlehem.
However, Nathanial does meet Jesus and becomes a disciple.
I mentioned that Andrew and Philip are the first evangelists – people who are leading people to Jesus. I know that evangelism can be a scary word for many of us. I often think of people knocking on my door or yelling at me on the street corner, and I don’t want to present that image of myself or be seen as overly pushy. But Andrew and Philip aren’t like that. There is a phrase that is used in this scripture that we can use as well: Come and see.
Jesus didn’t yell at Andrew and his friends or insist that they join them. He invited them to his camp where they probably talked around the campfire about what Jesus believed in. I’m sure he told them about God’s love, forgiveness, atonement, the promise of Heaven and God’s grace. Jesus didn’t push anyone to become his followers, he just said come and see my message of faith. Come and experience who I am and what I am offering in the name of my Heavenly Father, and make up your own mind as to whether or not you want to be involved with my movement.
That is probably how Andrew got his brother Peter to meet Jesus: Come and see. Look, bro – just come and check this dude out. He’s got some important things to say that you might like to hear. And Peter went, and listened, and decided that he wanted to follow Jesus. Of course, I think that a lot of that was because he trusted his brother, so he was a little more receptive than Nathanial.
Philip did the same thing for Nathanial, but he was met with more resistance. Nathanial had his doubts and expressed them. Come and see said Philip. Notice that there isn’t any pushing or yelling in the story. There is an offering to go and see what this Jesus is all about. And Nathanial liked the message and stayed.
Now we are told to go out and make disciples, and I think that the Come and See approach is a good way to go. Come and See gives the invitation; not in a pushy way – just come and see for yourself. There are some people in our lives who we’re close to, like Andrew and Peter, who are easier for us to approach. We don’t have start out by inviting them to church. We can say: Come to our Soup’s On; come to our Mine-Kill worship, or our Family Fun Day, or our blessing of the animals. And yes, we can say, come to worship and see. Easter is coming up. Is there someone you know who might like to go to one of our Sunrise or Regular services? All you have to do is say: Come and See.
And there are some people, like Nathanial who we know are going to be skeptical. But we shouldn't let that put us off. We need to be open to God working with unexpected people in unexpected ways. God sometimes chooses unlikely people for his plans, so we shouldn't discount someone because we might think that they’re the type of person who would never be interested in God. We don't know what's going on in their lives. Maybe your moment of invitation is the request they need to take a step towards a personal relationship with God through Jesus.
And finally, we need to respect people's personal encounters with the divine. Sometimes we have certain ideas of how people should encounter Christ, but everyone encounters God differently. Our job is not to monitor the encounter, our job is to offer the invitation in a spirit of love, fellowship, and grace.
Andrew and Phillip didn't just stop with Peter and Nathaniel. They spent the rest of their lives inviting people to come and see Jesus. Some people said no; some people laughed at them; some people went and said: No, not for me. They weren't 100% successful in their evangelism efforts. But that didn't matter because to the people they did offer the invitation, who came, and saw, and found Christ’s love, that made all the difference to them and probably changed their lives for the better.
So, let's follow the example of Andrew and Phillip to come and see Christ. Let’s keep ourselves from getting discouraged by remembering that everyone has free will and their own spiritual journey, and they can accept or refuse Christ as they find them. Who knows? Maybe each of us can help one more person connect to God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Kingdom of God. That will be a measure of a life well spent for anyone of us.