Words of Welcome

  Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 The Covenant-making God invited Abraham and his family to take a journey to an unknown land. God promised to bless Abraham, make his name great, and bless the nations through him and his descendants. God made this promise even though Abraham and Sarah were rather old and still didn’t have any children of their own ( Gen. 12:1-4 ).  Abraham’s story is a complicated one. It almost seems like a soap opera at times, but Abraham set out on the journey and God remained present throughout all the twists and turns of this journey. So, when Abram turned ninety-nine years old, God said to Abraham: “I am God Almighty, walk before me, and be blameless.” That is, “Live as if you were always in my presence.” [ Goldingay, Genesi s, 277 ]. When God made a covenant with Abram in Genesis 17, God promised to make his descendants “exceedingly numerous.” To symbolize this promise, God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, which means “ancestor of a multitude.” God also promised to bl

  Reminder, by Mike Moyers Genesis 9:8-17 We serve a covenant-making God. As we journey through Lent, we will encounter some of the covenants present in the Old Testament. We’ll reflect on what these covenants say to us as a congregation and as individuals.  We begin this morning with a unilateral covenant that God makes with all creation. It speaks of God’s faithfulness but it doesn’t impose any specific requirements on us. This one applies to God and God alone, but this covenant offers us a word of hope. That is because it guarantees God’s faithfulness to the covenant. While this covenant doesn’t require anything of us, if we take the word we hear this morning to heart, perhaps we can embody its message in our own relationships. This first covenant provides the foundation for every other covenant, including the one that binds us together as a church. When the Disciples of Christ restructured itself as a denomination in the 1960s, the denomination chose the biblical concept of c

Mark 9:2-9 From time immemorial people have told stories of divine encounters on mountain tops. This is true of Moses and Elijah and many others. I have a great love of mountains. While Mount Shasta is one of my favorite spots, I was strangely moved by my experience of the glory of the Swiss Alps. On the day we ascended the Stanserhorn, the mountain was shrouded in clouds. Think of the description of Mt. Sinai in Exodus. We wondered whether the clouds would block our view of the Alps, but as we ascended the mountain on the cable car we broke through the clouds into bright sunlight. When we arrived at the top of the mountain, the sight was exhilarating. While off in the distance we looked upon the higher snow-capped peaks of the Alps, it was the sight of the fog-enshrouded valley below that gave the sense that we had been caught up in the heavenly realm.      As we gather this morning on Transfiguration Sunday, we’ve heard Mark’s story of Jesus’ trip to the top of Mount Tabor in

Mark 1:29-39 Qoheleth wrote long ago that there is a season for everything under heaven, including a time to heal (Eccl. 3:1, 3). Is this a time when healing is needed? With all the brokenness present in our world, including the physical, mental, and emotional toll of COVID, the answer is yes. We need the “balm in Gilead” that makes “the wounded whole.” So, “Heal me, hands of Jesus, and search out all my pain; restore my hope, remove my fear, and bring me peace again” [Michael Perry, Chalice Hymnal , 404].  According to Mark, Jesus immediately left the synagogue and entered the home of Simon and Andrew. Just to catch you up on the story, Jesus went to the synagogue in Capernaum that Sabbath morning with Simon, Andrew, James, and John. Whether or not he was the scheduled preacher that day, Jesus proclaimed the good news and cast out an unclean spirit. Mark reports that everyone who heard him preach was amazed because he taught with authority. As a result, his fame spread throughout