Words of Welcome

John 4:5-42 There are all kinds of communication barriers out there, with language barriers among the biggest and most difficult to get around. He speaks Spanish; she doesn't. How do you communicate? But there are other kinds of barriers that inhibit communication. There are, for instance, generational differences, which can cause major headaches. If you read Zits, you know that this is true. Each generation has its own dialect, and if you’re not hip to the lingo, you’ll likely miss something in a conversation. Although we don’t always think about it, there are also theological barriers that get in the way of our sharing our faith with others. Sometimes our religious lingo – you know, words like Trinity, grace, atonement, Eucharist – gets in the way. They may be important terms and doctrines, but they’re often meaningless to people on the outside. And so we have to stop and explain what we mean. If you read the gospels closely, you’ll discover that Jesus often dealt with communic

John 3:1-17 "The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind," so sang Bob Dylan. That may very well be true, but the question is: Which way is the wind blowing? What we know for sure about the wind is that it’s unpredictable and uncontrollable. People living here in Lompoc know something about the wind – it seems to come up every afternoon, keeping things cool and clear. On a hot afternoon, a nice cool breeze can bring relief, but sometimes the wind comes with devastating power. Consider those Santa Ana winds that can whip up a fire, knock down trees, and turn over semis. And in other parts of the country, it could be a tornado or a hurricane that brings devastation in its wake. The winds can come with great power, and while we can try to tap into its power, we can’t control it or predict where it will go. And this is also the case with the Sprit of God. Unless you thrive on stressful situations, you probably prefer calm normalcy to chaos. We like five year plans and complete a

Genesis 1:1-2:3 God said, “let there be light” and there was light.” And when God saw the light, God said, “That’s good!” Indeed, light is good. As you know, it’s kind of difficult to see where you’re going in the dark, so having some light can be helpful. In the beginning of time, you had the sun – not bad during the daytime – and then there was the moon – it gives off some light, but it’s pretty limited. In time somebody discovered fire, and fire helps a lot. Over time the campfire gave way to the candle, and the candle to the lamp. Every advancement in lighting made living in-doors and going about at night just a bit easier. Then came the biggest revolution in lighting history. Back in the 19th century somebody figured out how to hook up lights to electricity and everything changed. Even though he wasn’t the first to come up with the idea of the incandescent bulb, a guy named Thomas Edison came up with a long lasting filament and history was made. In fact, his idea worked so well th

Matthew 17:1-9 All of us have had experiences that have helped define our identity. It might not be a Damascus Road kind of thing, but something has happened that has changed the way we look at ourselves. These experiences change who we are as a person. And when we look back on them, even years later, we can remember the day vividly, because we were enraptured by it. Some events are historical and public – Pearl Harbor, the assassination of Martin Luther King, and 9-11 define eras and people. Even if we weren't directly affected by the event, the event still affects who and what we are. Then there are the more personal events – a marriage, a birth, a divorce, a death, that catch us up in the moment and transform us in some way. If we’re willing to listen, we may hear God’s voice in the moment. Four events stand out as having marked my life with God's transforming grace. The first date is July 9, 1983. On that day Cheryl walked down the aisle in her white lace wedding dress and