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 […]
Saving God
Mark Schloneger
I remember exactly where this book was located on our family bookshelf while I was growing up. It was the bottom shelf, because this book was too big and too thick for the other shelves. As a child, I would often use this book for non-reading purposes. As a hard backing to draw on. As […]
A Whole and Holy Mind
Joanne Gallardo
I almost called this sermon “yet another mental health sermon” because I feel that either I preach on this subject often or I hear others doing so. And these sermons vary. I’ve heard sermons that would have people “delivered” from the “demon” of mental illness, I’ve heard sermons that promote the power of positive thinking. […]
A Noble and Generous Spirit
Dan Schrock
What is the nastiest thing that ever happened to you? What events in your life caused you the most suffering, the most pain, the most misery? What grand injustice came to you, stirring up enormous frustration and intense anger inside you?
For This Reason
Mark Schloneger
For this reason. Those are the first three words of our scripture text this morning. For this reason, Paul writes, he prays to God for the church in Ephesus. Tomorrow, I’ll be traveling to Laurelville Mennonite Church Center in Pennsylvania for a meeting of the Values-Based Leadership Program. This has been helpful for me to […]
In Deep
Mark Schloneger
To all who are loved by God and called to be saints, there is grace and peace for you – in abundance — through our Lord Jesus Christ. Discombobulated. Befuddled. Flabbergasted. Flummoxed. If there are ever words that sound like their meaning, it’s those. And that’s kind of how I’ve been feeling lately, in dire […]
Becoming a Safer Church
Joanne Gallardo
Ideally, many of us would like to think church is one of the safest places one can be. We all know each other, consider one another decent people, and nothing untoward may have happened to us recently, or maybe even ever in a church setting. We’re like a family. We’ve trusted each other with some […]
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