The crippled man and the disciples both experience surprise and interruption in the norms of what they think might happen for them this day.  The man expected the same - people offering him coins or ignoring him.  It has been the same day in and day out for years.  Peter and John expected to continue in their grieving and confusion at the loss of their mentor and friend Jesus, and planned to go to the temple for a routine prayer service.  Neither expectation happens, and they - and we! - are all better for it.  What might it take for us to open our senses differently t ..read more

In the aftermath of Jesus’ death and resurrection, Jesus offers comfort and presence to his disciples. He continues to remind them he has not come to establish a nation state, rather that the disciples would be the ones to carry forward Jesus’ mission. Requirements for this include more waiting, receiving the power of the Holy Spirit. Devotion to prayer may be what will prepare them for what’s next. But that isn’t here yet. They must prepare themselves to be led by the Holy Spirit.  Sermon begins at minute marker 4:58 Acts 1.1-14 Resources BibleWorm podcast Episode 535 Waiting for the S ..read more

Jesus lives an increasingly life of truth-telling to civic and religious authorities. All the while he enfolds the marginalized and oppressed into a just and merciful embrace of care and love, calling disciples to do the same. Up to his impending death disciples cannot grasp what this will cost him. A woman enacting honor and love provides Jesus’ followers, then and now, with an example of unbridled recognition of who Jesus is. What is imprinted on our being? How can we break alabaster jars to display open and prepared hearts? Sermon begins at minute marker 5:09 Mark 12.13-17, 14.3-9 Resources ..read more

News of wars, natural disaster, and human suffering greets us every evening, without fail. Where is God in this? Does God not see? Jesus warns his disciples of the temple’s destruction, and worse, yet to come. Indeed, God in Christ does see what human beings are doing to one another. It is we who cannot stand to look, listen, or respond to the fires, the famines, the faces of suffering around us. And yet, and yet. Jesus comes among us to announce God is near at hand, God’s gracious will is carrying forth, God’s reign unfolds in our very midst. God is with us in the midst of earthquake, flood ..read more

Struck by Mark’s mention that Jesus sits across from the treasury box in the Temple, observing HOW each person gives their money, Pastor Megan ponders what Jesus might observe in how SHE lives with her own money (and for this Way walked together, how WE live with ours). Would Jesus be glad that the widow gives her last mite and has nothing to live on, or might Jesus be praising the widow for revealing - by her courageous and some might even say confrontational act - the baked-in injustice of the system that leaves a widow with only a mite in the first place? And what does love of God, self, an ..read more

Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem is a deliberate act of political confrontation with the Roman Empire’s powers-that-be. After casing the mostly deserted late evening Temple, he makes plans to return the next day to make a royal mess of things; to disrupt business as usual. The Way Jesus walks, the Way that Jesus calls us to walk (together!), is a Way lined with palms that leads to confrontation with Empire. Sermon begins at minute marker 5:03 Mark 11.1-19 Resources BibleWorm podcast: Episode 531 – The Triumphal Entry, Amy Robertson and Robert Williamson, Jr. Ched Myers, “Palm Sunday As Subversive ..read more

The cries of the suffering are not always polite. When we are suffering, can we let loose and trust our community to hold us? When our neighbors are suffering, can we build our resilience in the face of their screams for justice, for relief, for healing, for mercy? Sermon begins at 6:41 Resources BibleWorm podcast: Episode 527 – The Healing of Bartimaeus, Amy Robertson and Robert Williamson, Jr. Image: Melissa Kelly VT 610 Precious Lord, Take My Hand #73682 Words: Thomas Dorsey, Music: George Allen ©1938,1966 Hal Leonard Corporation. Permission to podcast the music in this service obtained ..read more

I can talk about a woman who experiences a minimum of three healings in one healing story. The first is busting through all sorts of internal and external barriers to step out her door and into a crowd. The second is reaching for the hem of Jesus’ cloak to seize a cure for her illness. And the third is - with one word - being restored as family, reclaimed as belonging. I can talk about Jesus making a powerful one wait in order to give his full attention and presence to a marginalized one. And I can talk about - especially in a moment of big transition or uncertainty - never underestimating the ..read more

Tempted to avert our gaze from the mention of “evil spirit” or “demon”, instead Pastor Megan chooses to hold this story’s gaze and look for what may be true… then and now. What is true? What binds humans is indeed legion. What liberates humans is indeed Jesus. Who liberates humans is indeed us. Whew. Buckle up as we explore what makes demons tremble. Sermon begins at minute marker 5:05 Mark 5.1-20 Resources Intersectionality: In the sermon, I credit the origin of intersectionality to the women of the Combahee River Collective. In fact, Kimberlé Crenshaw should be credited with the origination ..read more

Christine Sine teaches us about where Jesus was most likely born, how the Inn we traditionally invoke probably wasn't what we consider an Inn at all. She reminds us of the Mennonite tradition of radical hospitality and encourages us into Chalking our doors as a blessing for all who enter our homes and to consider who we might be excluding from those homes and blessings. Sermon begins at minute marker 5:42 Matthew 2: 1-12 Resources Blessing, instructions and image of door chalking  Image by Alexander Grey on pexels Hymn: Hymn 274 See Whose Glory Fills the Skies Text: adapt. from Charles ..read more