Rev. Zach

So what is an Icon ? Literally, it means an image. When we think of Icons we often think of people who are larger than life, people who symbolize movements or ideals like Bob Marley , Chez Guevara , or Martin Luther King Jr. These are people who's faces end up on t-shirts, and sometimes the image is used for things the person never intended. We like to do that kind of thing. We glamorize "idols" and love to lift up the ones who are truly weird but still successful. Why? I guess it's because it make us feel better about ourselves. No matter how good we are we know we can't be MLK or Gandhi , so isn't it good that some one else was. No matter how bad we are at least we aren't Jennifer . Icons are also smaller than life. It is the term we use to describe the little images we click on to open a computer program. They move us from something small into something bigger. In the Christian tradition, Icons have been used in this same way for centuries. ...

Psalm 139:1-14,23-24 Matthew 5:43-48 Ephesians 2:10 Once upon a time a young boy became frustrated and used a word he had been told not to use. His mother sent him to his room and said, “When your father gets home he will deal with you, young man.” When his father got home he said, “I’ll teach him a thing or two about swearing!” Unfortunately he slipped on the way up the stairs, and while falling let fly a string of expletives the likes of which the boy had never heard. Then Mother said, “I think you’ve taught him enough for tonight, Dear.” Today is Father’s Day , and (for those who do not know) it is not just a scam from the cartel of greeting card lobbyists in Washington. It actually started 100 years ago when Mrs. John B. Dodd of Spokane, Washington began to understand the hardship her father endured on her behalf. Her father, William Smart was a veteran of the Civil War, and lost his wife during the birth of their sixth child....

I have a blister on my left hand ring finger. I was trimming the shrubs the other day without work gloves, and I got a blister. I'll spare the overly trite metaphors about work gloves, protection, and injury resulting from inattentiveness. Instead I want to share what occurred to me in reflecting on the blister and its location. It's not a bad blister, but all the same I could not resist picking it. Foolish, I know, but I just couldn't help it. As I look at the resulting blemish and the wedding ring that covers it I can't help thinking about my marriage. I have a wonderful partner and a great marriage. All the same, there are times when focusing on my needs before her causes damage. Yet there is something deeper that we cling to. Something unending and unchanging, like the circle of the ring. The scripture we chose for our wedding was Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 9 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: 10 If one falls down,...

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 Psalm 51:1-10 Mathew 6:5-12 Today is Trinity Sunday, and it is well timed by those councils who set, under God’s direction, the celebrations of the church season. It comes at a time where we have experienced God’s creative power in the coming of spring, God’s triumph over sin and death through Christ’s resurrection as we celebrated at Easter, and the offering of God’s active presence in the Holy Spirit as we celebrated last week on Pentecost. Interestingly enough, the term “trinity” is not found in the Bible. It was developed almost three centuries after Christ’s resurrection, as Christianity emerged from persecution and became the religion of the Roman Empire. It was the result of two separate councils of Christian leaders from a wide variety of communities and traditions who were trying to come together and state what they believed was true and real about what God had done through Jesus Christ. Though it could be said that Christians are still str...