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Pentecost

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Pentecost 2C: Proper 7: 6/23/2019

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6/23/2019
Pentecost 2 Yr C: Proper 7

Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the lake.” The lake was the Sea of Galilee, and that trip took them out of Jewish territory into the land of the Gerasenes. This was Gentile land; where people did not know God. And in that land Jesus met a man who was overtaken by demons. Imagine being one of the witnesses of this event. The people in that town obviously knew the man; for many years he had worn no clothes, lived in the cemetery, and sometimes had to be chained up and guarded; but he was able to break the chains and run away. Jesus knew that what was at work was evil spirits. And so he asked, “What is your name?”  The answer should have put chills down the spine of every person who heard the reply; “Legion”. A legion was the largest unit in the Roman army; about 6,000 soldiers. But that wasn’t what made the people afraid.

First Sunday of Advent: 12/2/2018

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12/2/2018
Advent 1

Be on guard. Be alert. Something is happening!

Years ago NBC ran a series of commercials about their nightly news; “The world is complicated. Our job is to make sense of it. That is what we do.” Isn’t that special?

The truth is that daily life includes events that do not make sense. School shootings, boiling tempers in politics and in the streets of America, acts of terrorism around the world, an inability to have civil discourse anymore. In the context of all the issues that can pull us down and wear us out, there is a message in the season of Advent that offers us hope.

Pentecost Last: 11/25/2018

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11/25/2018
Pentecost Last

What kind of king is he?
In John 6:15, the people were so overcome by the teaching and actions of Jesus that they intended to come and force him to be their king. He rejected that, and Scripture says that he ‘withdrew again to a mountain by himself.’ This was not the kind of kingship he was sent to do.

Pentecost 26B; 11/18/2018

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11/18/2018
Pentecost 26B

Amidst the wildfires in northern and southern California, Reverend Ardyss talks with us about the prophet Daniel, experiences of the lion’s den, the furnace, and God’s presence and protection.

Pentecost 23B: 10/28/2018

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10/28/2018
Pentecost 23B

When I was in my late twenties I was on a Cursillo weekend team, and I gave one of the talks on Christian living. After my talk, an older man (70?) came up to me and started to cry. It took him a while to settle himself enough to tell me that he didn’t know how to thank me for what I had said. He had always attended church, but never understood what it meant to KNOW that Jesus is in his life.  It was not just my talk, but it is the focus of those weekends to help people have new Spiritual Sight.

Pentecost 22B: 10/21/2018

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10/21/2018
Pentecost 22B

There are images of God that intimidate me. Forty days of rain, wiping out all but the animals and people on Noah’s arc. The burning bush and the divine voice coming from the cloud that told Moses; “Go to pharaoh and tell him to set my people free!” The sky filled with angels, singing praises and announcing the birth of Jesus.

Jesus taught about another personality of God.

Pentecost 20B: 10/7/2018 – 8:00 am

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10/7/2018
Pentecost 20B

The Pharisees kept trying to trap Jesus. They were the experts in Jewish law, and they kept trying to either show that Jesus didn’t know the law (which they were never able to do), or to get him to take a side in some controversial issue that would polarize his followers, making them fall away from him. In this hot topic of divorce, they failed again to recognize who they were dealing with.

The Pharisees brought up the legal controversy over divorce. But Jesus changed the conversation to something even more important. For him, the issue was not human law, but rather God’s intention.