Rev. Zach

Ephesians 4:11-13 “The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us, come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-13) This is the third of four sermons on the letter to the church in Ephesus, and as we’ve said before, this letter was written to be shared amongst the congregations of followers in the way of Jesus, and it assumes the authority of Jesus as given to Paul, the apostle, who wrote many passionate letters from prison. The interesting thing about that is that Paul did not write these letters as a warning, at least not as a warning against being imprisoned. If anything, being in prison was a part of his calling card. Come to think of it, there are a lot of people through the years that have used the same calling card whe...

Ephesians 2:11-22; Matthew 28:16-20 “So that God might create in God’s self one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace.” So says the author of the letter to the church in Ephesus, and so begins the second of four sermons on readings from the letter to the church in Ephesus! We started out last week by looking at what it means to live into the promise of salvation that is “Sealed in the Spirit of God.” We talked about finding our salvation in the understanding that God’s love and forgiveness are based on God’s choice to love us and to include us in the work of God to “gather all things into God.” Everything we do is in response to the one thing God did through Jesus Christ. Reject it. Accept it. Ignore it. Celebrate it. Whatever you do, it is in response to what God has done, and God had it in mind to demonstrate love and forgiveness from the beginning of all things. Last week’s readings reminded us that Jesus promised that the gift of the Holy Spirit would follow him, and...

Ephesians 1:1-14; John 14:25-27 Today begins a four-part series on the book of Ephesians with verses selected by the Narrative Lectionary, a resource which is developed by Luther Seminary to be a little more comprehensive than the three-year Revised Common Lectionary. While this may take us off the common path of those who are guided by the Revised Common Lectionary, there are a few other congregations in our presbytery – and many others in various flavors of the Reformed tradition of followers of the way of Jesus – that use the Narrative Lectionary as well. Given that we are using selected verses of Ephesians over the next few weeks, I would like to encourage you to consider reading the book of Ephesians and any kind of commentary or study Bible notes that you have access to along the way. It’s only about six chapters, and it may give you greater insight than I can give you just to read your Bible and see what the Spirit encourages in you through it. That said, I do want to call your...

1 Corinthians 11:17-34; Mark 14:12-25 Earlier I gave each of you a sparkler, which is based on a design of handheld fireworks dating back to 1850 and originating in Germany. If you’re like me you probably don’t care about that, and you are instead remembering some time in childhood when you twirled a stick of fire around, and maybe spelled your name. Maybe you remember the smell of the sulfur or hear the voices of family members...trying to keep you from setting off the rest of the fireworks...no? Just me? Fireworks fascinate us and do weird things to our brains. Studies have been made over the years to try to figure out what they do to our brains and why they fascinate us so much. Some studies have shown neuron patterns that fire off in the exact same shape as the clouds of colored lights we see. Some suggest that even talking about them creates similar patterns that can create a similar sense of euphoria just by recalling the memory of them. Other studies focus on the way that these ...