Pastor’s Page

  • Verse for the week of March 7th:

    No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone.  God is faithful, and he wil l not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.   (I Corinthians 10:13)   This is a verse that gets used a lot when [...]

  • Verse for the week of February 28th:

    The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1) I think that this verse has a powerful image.  Think about it—the Lord is my light.  One of the most common things in a child’s [...]

  • Books on Prayer- March 2010

    Throughout this series on spirituality, I will be suggesting a variety of resources if you would like to read more on the topic.

  • From the Pastor’s Desk - March 2010

    Last month as part of this newsletter series on spiritual disciples I reflected upon prayer in general. This month I want to explain a couple of prayer practices.

  • Verse for the week of February 21st:

    So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O LORD, have given me. You shall set it down before the LORD you God and bow down before the LORD your God.

  • Verse for the week of February 14th:

    Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.   (Luke 9:28)     If you read the entire Gospel of Luke, one of the underlying themes within the Gospel is prayer.  Luke emphasizes prayer more than the other 3 gospel accounts.  Within the [...]

  • Verse for the week of February 7th:

    And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of host; the whole earth is full of his glory.’ (Isaiah 6:3) This verse is from the call narrative of the prophet Isaiah.  The prophets in the Old Testament typically have some type of encounter with the presence of God that overwhelms them [...]

  • From the Pastor’s Desk

    Prayer—part one ‘Pray without ceasing’ (I Thessolians 5:17) As I continue writing about spiritual practices, I am going to take the next two months to reflect upon prayer. This month I want to focus upon prayer in general and then next month to focus more on several forms or types of prayer. I remember [...]

  • Verse for the week of January 31st:

     And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love. (I Corinthians 13:13) When you hear this verse the first image that might go through your head is a wedding scene. The 13th Chapter of First Corinthians is sometimes known as the ‘Love Chapter’ and is the preferred reading at [...]

  • Verse for the week of January 24th:

    For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. (I Corinthians 12:12) With this verse, St. Paul is continuing a discussion about understanding the church in the same way that we understand a body. A body is made up [...]

  • Verse for the week of January 17th:

    To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.   (I Corinthians 12:7)     This section of Paul’s letter to the church of Corinth deals with what it means to be the church.  Paul will use the image of the body as a metaphor for the church—that the church is made up of many [...]

  • Verse for the week of January 10th:

    O LORD, give strength to your people; give them, O LORD, the blessings of peace. (Psalm 29:11) This whole Psalm is a hymn of praise to God who is above all things and mightier than all of creation.  The Psalm ends with a word of prayer, ‘O LORD, give strength to your people; give them, O LORD, [...]

  • Verse for the week of January 3rd:

    The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. (John 1:4) Whenever I hear this verse, I think about the Christmas Eve Candlelight service.  The tradition that I have used for many years is that on Christmas Eve when we are lighting the candles that are passed out—the beginning of the Gospel of [...]

  • Verse for the week of December 27th:

    As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. (Colossians 3:12) St. Paul uses this image of clothing oneself.  Just like in the morning, you get up and put on clothes and these clothes can sometimes tell others something about you.  If you get up and put on your work clothes, [...]

  • Verse for the week of December 20th:

    And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord’ (Luke 1:46) This verse is part of what is called the Magnificat or Mary’s song.   The word Magnificat means magnifies or glorifies.  The context for Mary’s song is when Mary’s relative, Elizabeth comes and visits Mary while Mary is expecting with Jesus.  Elizabeth is also expecting—her child is John [...]

  • Verse for the week of December 13th:

    Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. (Philippians 4:4) Whenever I read these words from St. Paul, I am always amazed.  What I am amazed about is that these words are written while St. Paul was a prisoner.  It is almost universally accepted that St. Paul wrote these words from a prison [...]

  • Verse for the week of December 6th:

    As it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, ‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’’ (Luke 3:4) In many ways, this is one of the classic Scripture texts for the Season of Advent.  It proclaims the voice of one [...]

  • Verse for the week of November 30th:

    The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. (Jeremiah 33:14) What is the promise to the house of Israel and the house of Judah? If you keep reading in the book of Jeremiah, the prophet proclaims that the promise is [...]

  • Verse for the week of November 23rd:

    Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not from this world.  If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews.  But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.’ (John 18:36) The context for this verse is Jesus appearing before Pilate and Pilate questioning him [...]

  • Verse for the week of November 15th:

    And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds. (Hebrews 10:24) As the father of two children, I understand the notion of ‘provoke.’  It is amazing how sibling know how to push each other’s buttons and get under the skin of the other.  Sometimes all it takes is a look to provoke [...]

  • Verse for the week of November 8th:

    For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.  (Mark 12:44) The setting for this verse is the story of the widow’s mite—the encounter of Jesus with people putting in money to the coffers at the temple.  [...]

  • Verse for the week of November 1st:

    Then he said to me, ‘It is done!  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.  To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.’.  (Revelation 21:6) What does it mean that Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega? On a strictly literal sense, [...]

  • Verse for the week of October 25th:

    God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  (Psalm 46:1) Psalm 46 is the inspiration behind Martin Luther’s most well known hymn—‘A Mighty Fortress is Our God.’ Both this psalm and the hymn put forth a concept that God is a strong force that can stand against anything that comes up against it.  [...]

  • Verse for the week of October 18th:

    But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.  (Isaiah 53:5) In this section of Isaiah, the prophet is talking about a suffering servant.  There are a number of passages like this one that that lift up this [...]

  • Verse for the week of October 11th:

    Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16) This verse confirms to us that we are able to approach God at all times. The verses just prior to verse 16 talk about Jesus as the [...]

  • Verse for the week of October 4th:

    Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son.  (Hebrews 1:1) This opening line to the letter to the Hebrews sets the stage for the author’s purpose of this letter (or more probably a sermon).  This verse [...]

  • Verse for the week of September 27th:

    Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.  (Psalm 19:14) This verse from Scripture is one that I have heard used at the beginning of many sermons.  It becomes the prayer of the pastor prior to preaching–praying that the words that [...]

  • Verse for the week of September 20th:

    Jesus sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’ (Mark 9:35) How countercultural!! Does this make sense? Most of the time, if one wants to be first then you need to watch out for yourself. After [...]

  • Verse for the week of September 13th:

    Jesus asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah’  (Mark 8:29) This text is one of the central and core texts of the church.  The context for this verse is that Jesus had just healed a blind man and then asks the disciples about who people [...]

  • Verse for the week of September 6th:

    ‘I will praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long.’  (Psalm 146:2) The dictionary defines praise as ‘to express adoration of; glorify’ (Doubleday Dictionary).  This may sound basic to many people, but this verse serves as a good reminder for all Christians.  Our lives should [...]