Words of Welcome

Fishing on the Williamson River, Oregon James 5:7-10 It’s been a while since I was in the pulpit, so I might be a bit rusty. Therefore, please be patient with me! Not only am I asking you to be patient with my reentry, but also with the topic of the day. Talking about patience as a virtue in the middle of the busiest season of the year, might not seem the wisest thing to do. But here we are. We have this word from James who asks us to be patient until the coming of the Lord. We hear this word when the world around us is rushing about getting ready for the holidays. There are gifts to purchase, meals to plan, and parties to attend. Some of us have family members needing to be picked up at the airport. That’s one of my tasks for tomorrow since Brett is flying to Metro Airport a few hours before I have to be back for the Council meeting. Some of you might be getting ready to head out of town to visit family or friends. In the midst of all this rushing about, James the ...

2 Peter 3:8-15 If you’ve been out Christmas shopping, you may have found yourself standing in long lines. The same might be true at the Post Office. When it comes to calling customer service or tech support, time may slow down to a crawl. The occasional reminder that a representative will answer as soon as possible doesn’t make the wait any easier. So, what should you do while you wait? How do you keep yourself occupied, when half an hour seems like a day? Having a smart phone may prove helpful, at least while waiting in a line at the store or the post office. At least I can check Facebook and Twitter, and if the line is too long, I can open a book on my Kindle app.  But, what if you’re waiting for God to act?   This season of Advent is by definition a season of waiting. We pray “O come, o come Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel.” Each year we sing these words of expectation, while waiting for Emmanuel to be fully revealed to us, not as a baby wrapped in swadd...

Core Values Sermon 4 Philippians 4:4-7 When someone always seems to be happy, don’t you suspect that they may be hiding something? Something just isn’t right? Life simply isn’t that wonderful! This is especially true when it comes to religion. I won’t mention any names, but some of those TV preachers, and their imitators, promise us a great life, with little cost – except for what they’d like you to send in to support their “ministry.” And yet, even if faith in God isn’t the pathway to riches and fame like they promise, surely there has to be a bit of joy in this journey of ours. This morning we’re continuing our conversation about the congregation’s core values, and today we focus on joy. There is another word involved in this core value – the word spiritual. But no matter whether you put it first or second, if our faith in God – that is our spiritual life -- is without joy, then something is wrong. That doesn’t mean that we should be happy every moment of the day. It do...