Our church's grounds its rich past and liminal future in our founding biblical story: the healing around the pool of Bethesda (John 5:2-9). The healing around the pool. Not the healing in the pool. Perhaps all of us are called to listen for the healing taking place all around our own dedicated pools: establishing our presence and expressing our gratitude as we go ...
November 12 - BPC 300, Part 2: Commissioned!
What does our church's credo Love in Action/A Place to Belong mean? And beyond that: what does being a church member mean - in a day and age when this is less appreciated?
November 5 - Our 300th Anniversary: The Dead Tell Many Tales
What might the spirits of our church's 300 years of yore have to say to our spirits today?
October 29 - From Denial: Hope!
Jesus appears to Peter - post-resurrection. He gives him the chance to make his amends to him. Not apologies. Amends. By commissioning him: Which doesn't involve cheap forgiveness. It requires costly redemption.
October 22 - From Denial: Hope!
We can all sympathize with Peter when he denies his allegiance to Jesus three times in the Temple courtyard. He had insisted to Jesus that that would not happen. In other words: he denied his denial-to-be. Which made his ultimate denial extra painful for him. So he wept - with tears that would water his hope - and ours - ahead ...
October 15 - Older Brother, Younger Brother: God's Practice of Forgiveness
In the Parable of the Prodigal Son - creatively enacted here by Jean Dudek - church folk generally relate more to the older brother. To brothers older and younger both: God's practice of forgiveness is the same.
October 8 - Forgiveness Is a Spiritual Practice
Forgiveness is hard work. Our recall of those who have hurt us can be instant. How can that recall become less potent over time? Power of Forgiveness, Part 5 of 8. Scripture: Matthew 18:21-33.
October 1 - Why, God? Part 2
Sometimes, we find it hard to imagine that forgiveness is possible - until something comes along and shakes us up a bit. Power of Forgiveness series, Part 4 of 8. Scripture: Jonah 3:10-4:11.
September 24 - Why, God?
Might be the oldest question in monotheism! Can we forgive God when bad things happen? And is that forgiveness important - or even necessary? Scripture: Job 23:1-9
The Power of Forgiveness, Part 2: Only as Sick as Our Secrets
Scripture: 2 Samuel 11:26-12:15. Through stealth and power, King David murders the husband and marries the wife. What do we wish to keep secret - that honesty and grace might be a stranger to us?
September 10 - The Power of Forgiveness, Part 1: From Enslavement to Liberation.
Joseph forgives his brothers - who had sold him into slavery (Genesis 45). His enslavement: hurt people hurt people. Here, he breaks the chain. Can we? And how?
Sunday Message, September 3: "Self, Self-Denial, & the Ballad of Emmett Till"
In response to Emmett Till's death, his mother Mamie & great-uncle Moses model for us an authentic calling of self that denies self for the sake of the whole.
August 20 - The Faith You Have Is ...
Our Guest: Rev. Pat Jackson. We have a thing in our society for going BIG!! Enter the mustard seed. Suddenly, there's something small that's also potent. Something so small that can be, well, huge!
August 13 - From Fitting In to Belonging
Scripture: Acts 19:1-7 Our church's 300th anniversary credo is "Love in Action - A Place to Belong". In this final of a summer series of Acts of the Apostles messages, Rev. Chuck outlines how the Holy Spirit can take us all to that special belonging place.
Sunday, August 6 - To An Unknown God?
Scripture is Acts 17:22-28. In Athens, the Apostle Paul shares with the learned how he has just found an altar inscribed, "To an unknown god" - then proceeds to share how our Creator God is made known to all. In essence, he is saying: the spiritual desires of those in and out of church are no different - and that everyone and everything belongs. What kind of difference might that affirmation make in how we see the world?
Rev. Chuck's 7/30 Message: "The Gospel: From Sin and Salvation to Enslavement and Liberation".
In Acts 16:16-34, a slave is set free. How might this story speak to our important Christian witness of antiracism? Also in this passage, prisoners experience release. Rev. Chuck shares a story of personal incarceration - and what it taught him about the liberative gospel message.
July 23 - "Our Faith and the Farmers Market"
For the upscale Sunday Farmers Market patrons next door to our church, buying fresh, farm-grown food is a prayerful act. In Acts 16:16-34, the Apostle Paul wanders out among the "non-chosen" to a prayerful place - and in the process, meets a wealthy stranger named Lydia, with spiritual needs as deep and as similar as his ...
July 16 - "I Was Hungry And": Where Discipleship Meets Diaspora
Scripture: Acts 6:1-6. It takes a church to understand: What's Good for the Least Is Good for the Whole. And it takes a church to fly low, travel light, and discover a local solution for feeding the hungry.
July 9 - Who's In Charge? And Who Says It's You?
Scripture: Acts 15:1-21 - the Council at Jerusalem. How can a church comfortable with its particular practices open its doors to be challenged by those excluded by its present form?
July 2 - The Two Gates of Freedom
Scripture: Acts 12:6-17
Affirmative action, student loans, the Fourth: these current news events are addressed in the story of Peter's liberation from the gates of prison - and the ironic lack of welcome he initially receives at the gate of his own people. Can we trust our God of the Exodus to liberate us through Gate 1: the prison of our privilege? Can we trust our Christ of the Common Table to free us to open Gate 2: the equity of the Beloved Community?
