Posts by pwsadmin

Mustard seed moments. Mustard seed moments in our lives, seemingly small moments that end up being incredibly big and important, having to do with faith, faith that maybe we didn’t know we had. Does it come from within us? Does it come from outside of us? The question is, does faith come from within us…

I have this sort of occupational hazard, I suppose, where I like to make lists. If I get bored at a meeting – and I’m so grateful that you as a congregation don’t put a lot of meetings on my to-do list, I’m eternally grateful for that. In my past, the churches that I served, way too many meetings. Sometimes when I would get…

So, what does the Lord require of us? Well, in this congregation, you can answer that. All you have to do is look at the banners, right? What does the Lord require of us? That’s Micah 6:8. Seek justice, love kindness, walk humbly with our God. Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with our God…

Lost and found. Lost, and found. This man welcomes sinners and eats with them. Anthropologists will tell you that sitting down at table and breaking bread with someone is the second most physically intimate thing we can do with another person or persons. I want to let that sink in for a second. Sitting down at table…

Bending in the wind. When I was a kid – this is the truth – I loved to climb trees. I was good at it. I was young, I was strong, I was athletic. I loved to climb trees. We lived on Fifth Street in Marysville starting when I was a fourth grader through my high school graduation.…

Loosed from this bond – that’s actually a direct translation from the Greek. When Jesus heals the woman, he says, “You are now loosed from your bond.” I have been blessed with a long career in the ministry. This October, fingers crossed, knock on wood – see, I am superstitious. I got it from my…

Full disclosure – the lectionary passage this week just wasn’t making it for me. So, I decided – because I can do this – I decided to cherry-pick the scripture for this morning. I went with what’s familiar to all of us that Mike just read for us. I’m narrowing our focus on “blessed are the…

Before my first real job at a church after seminary – well, I shouldn’t say that. Absolutely strike that, because hospital chaplain is a real job. Of course it is. Before I got a church job, I worked as a hospital chaplain at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Big,…