1/13/2019
Epiphany 1C
John (the theologian) takes us to a heavenly perspective on the importance of the birth of the baby Jesus. It is high theology, and it is easy for the lessons this Sunday to get very complicated very quickly. But there is an important dimension here of who Jesus was. John’s prologue explains the significance of Christmas that I had never heard until I took courses in seminary. Let’s see where John is taking us.
1/6/2019
The Epiphany
Detail: This date, January 6, was celebrated in Egypt as the winter solstice, when the sun god made his appearance (epiphany). Third century Christians chose this date for the Lord’s Epiphany, and connected it with three Gospel ‘epiphany’ stories; the coming of the Magi, the baptism of Jesus (with God’s pronouncement), and the wedding at Cana.
12/30/2018
Christmas 1 C
John (the theologian) takes us to a heavenly perspective on the importance of the birth of the baby Jesus. It is high theology, and it is easy for the lessons this Sunday to get very complicated very quickly. But there is an important dimension here of who Jesus was. John’s prologue explains the significance of Christmas that I had never heard until I took courses in seminary. Let’s see where John is taking us.
12/23/2018
Advent IV C
Elizabeth’s senior life pregnancy most definitely caused a change in the plans she had made. She was suddenly no longer going to slow down the pace of life; retire in her ‘golden years’; or even sleep in more. In her old age she was going to be the mother of a baby boy; and not just any baby boy. Elizabeth was carrying John; whom an angel announced was going to prepare the way for Israel’s Messiah. God’s Plan brought a whole new direction to Elizabeth’s life.
12/16/2018
Advent III C
John understood that he was there to prepare the way for the Messiah; but the fact that Jesus was more concerned with healing, reconciliation, and love than repentance led John to question whether Jesus was really the One whom he was called to proclaim (Lk. 7:18-20). “Are you the one, or should we expect someone else?”
12/9/2018
Advent II C
Reverend Ardyss describes the joyful sense of expectation which defines Advent season.
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.
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.
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.
11/11/2018
Pentecost 25B
The Scriptures today are all lessons in CORE VALUES. It is clear for the two widows, it is clear for Jesus – what was the MOST VALUABLE THING.