Rev. Zach

Genesis 11:1-9      Acts2:1-21      John 14:8-17, 25-27 Pentecost. Pentecost! I love Pentecost! I’ll admit that it is one of those days that only “church people” really talks about, and that’s mostly because the minister brought it up. That’s probably because it hasn’t been marketed to death in secular culture. There’s no Pentecost mascot that sells things like Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny. I know they give stuff away, but you know what I mean. There aren’t any cards that say, “Happy Pentecost!” Children don’t wake up looking to see what color of fire the Holy Spirit brought them. I’m not suggesting this as a marketing strategy. If anything I’m glad that it’s not all that marketable. Pentecost is kind of pure in that it celebrates the activity of God, tells part of our story, and sets us up to tell the next chapter. Sure, there are lots of other liturgically significant days on the calendar, but this one is special. At Pentecost ...

 – The Rev. Zach Sasser Revelation 22:1-2, 16-17, 20-21      John 17:20-26 I want to start with a little game today. Don’t worry though, you don’t have to do or say anything out loud. I’m just going to give you some categories, and I want you to think very honestly and sincerely about the first word that comes to mind. I don’t want you to say it. I just want you to think about it. This is between you and God. Christians are ________.   Muslims are ________. Latinos are ________. Black people are _______. White people are ________. Immigrants are ________. God is ________. What you thought of is between you and God, but I will confess to you that my initial responses to these categories of people were a little challenging at first. They were challenging because my brain – and I’ll bet many of yours as well – has had a lot of conditioning through the years that results in biased assumptions of others. You may not have had to sort through those bia...