March 31-April 6, 2021
“Do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor.” Deuteronomy 15:7 Welcome to Holy Week and Passover 2021! I am thinking about Passover and the plagues and Pharaoh being hard-hearted. The “pass-over” was the final of the ten plagues, as the angel of death “passed over” the homes that had a sign of mercy. […]
Read postThis Week @ FMC March 24-30, 2021
“I want to see again!” These the words erupted out of the blind man when he drew near to Jesus, to the heart of God (Luke 18). There are so many stories in the gospels of Jesus healing the blind, breathing new life into the impossible. John 9 holds what is probably my favorite story […]
Read postMarch 17-23, 2021
During Lent we journey with Jesus to the cross, because that is where he is going. On the way we’ve witnessed and been challenged by: LOVE MOVING (the parable of the Good Samaritan); HEARTS TURNING (parable of the fig tree & Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem); COMMUNITY REJOICING (Parable of the Lost Sheep, Coin, and Sons); […]
Read postMarch 10-16, 2021
Have mercy upon us, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out our transgressions. Create in us clean hearts, O God, put a new and right spirit within each of us. Restore to us the joy of your salvation and sustain in us willing spirits. (from Psalm 51) Create […]
Read postMarch 2, 2021
Centered, not bounded. This is one way to describe how we orient ourselves as people of faith. We are centered on Jesus, the Christ, instead of patrolling the perimeter – the boundaries. We choose to turn our whole lives toward Jesus so we keep him in view and allow him to be the primary influence […]
Read postFebruary 24 – March 2, 2021
As we enter these first weeks of Lent, I want to extend a blessing written and shared by Jan Richardson (one of my favorite poets and artists – janrichardson.com). This blessing circles around the word ‘beloved.’ This is the name Jesus heard at his baptism, before he went into the wilderness; it is the same […]
Read postFebruary 17-23, 2021
Holy and tender God, when we look at the suffering in the world, it breaks our hearts. We see and feel: sorrow, sadness, despair, rage, betrayal and fear; lack of healthcare for hurting people, violence, injustice, hunger; angry, defeated, frightened, shut down, at a total loss; thankful for own blessings, what is indescribable; powerless, guilty, […]
Read postFebruary 10-16, 2021
Before I left home and went to college, I didn’t have much need for maps. The roads in northeastern Ohio were familiar and my memory usually dependable when I did venture farther away from home. But when I started driving myself to Kansas, I depended on the trusty atlas tucked beside the seat in my […]
Read postFebruary 3-9, 2021
My eyes were opened reading the Gospel of Luke at a period of my life where I felt directionless. The Spirit of God used these stories of welcome to folks who were outsiders, or who needed healing, or who needed mercy to open my heart to others around me. For that reason, I feel blessed […]
Read postJanuary 27-February 2, 2021
We follow Jesus together, not alone, across barriers that try to keep us divided. These words summarize the priorities of the global Anabaptist family we are a part of in Mennonite World Conference. This past Sunday we shared some of the Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday worship resources provided by our brothers and sisters in Asia. […]
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