When Every Day is Good Friday
Joanne Gallardo
I always feel conflicted about Palm Sunday. We go from celebrating the entry of Christ into Jerusalem to a week of thinking about Easter dinners, baked goods, and dyed eggs to Good Friday. I feel that “Good Friday” is always a bit of a misnomer. While Jesus’ resurrection can certainly be labeled “good,” there’s really […]
In the Valley of the Shadow
Mark Schloneger
“Jesus wept.” Jesus wept. That’s it. “Jesus wept” is the verse that I’d blurt out when I was asked by my childhood Sunday school teachers to share scripture that I had memorized. A little smart-alecky, I know, a sad part of my checkered history. And to you children’s Sunday school teachers who are watching, all […]
We’re Blind
Dan Schrock
These days, we are blind. We really, really wish it were not so. But in truth, right now we are all blind people. Up until 2 or 3 weeks ago, most of us had established, predictable, and comfortable lives. We got out of bed, dressed, and went off to work or school or whatever else […]
The Call of the Midwife
Mark Schloneger
We are respectable people, right? We dress respectably. We act respectably. We speak respectably. We’re well-read, well-known, well-connected. well-adjusted, well-intentioned, well-informed, well-groomed, and, if we must say so ourselves, well-respected. We’re respectively respectably reputable.
Just as I am
Joanne Gallardo
As I have said in previous sermons, I love angry Jesus. As an Enneagram 8 (and if you’re wondering about the Enneagram, just wait, because we have a Sunday School series starting up this week about it), I see so much of myself in angry Jesus. Most of this stems from my “Am I the […]
The March of the Kingdoms
Mark Schloneger
With a high school band or soldiers in basic training, one of the first things taught is how to march. And that’s not an easy task. Learning how to march takes practice, hours and hours of practice. Hours and hours spent paying attention to even the slightest details. The length of the stride. The pace […]
The Extravagant Disciple
Dan Schrock
This is a story of extravagance, of a woman named Mary who dumped very expensive perfume on someone’s dirty feet and then promptly wiped it off. You might call this action absurd, wasteful, or outrageous. Jesus, however, calls it discipleship. To understand why Mary was extravagant, look back to chapter 11. Lazarus, the brother of […]
Crossing the Chasm
Dan Schrock
A friend of mine was recently asked to speak at a major denominational meeting. For his talk, he chose a topic he was passionate about. It was a topic he knew really, really well because he had been thinking about it for at least 10 years. So when he sat down to write his speech, […]
Repent
Dan Schrock
Most news reports focus on sad, evil events. “Three People Die in Weekend Crash” says the headline on the front page of the paper. Listen to the news on your car radio and you might hear something like, “Today in western Kansas, a tornado ripped through several towns. As emergency workers rushed to the scene, […]
A Hen in the Foxhouse
Mark Schloneger
I was talking with a friend a while ago. He was telling me how it feels to have an empty nest after nearly twenty years raising two children, both sons. And he told me of the ache he feels to see his oldest son make choices that go against what he’d been taught, how he’d […]
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