Rev. Zach

Jeremiah 29: 1,4-14; 1 Corinthians 13: 1-13 You may have noticed in the prayer for illumination that Pam called these readings “love letters.” That may be easier to associate with Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth than Jeremiah’s letter to the exiles, but I believe it to be true all the same. Love is at the base of every stroke of every letter of God’s word, and that is certainly true in today’s readings. The same is true, or at least I hope that it is true, with all that we do as God’s people. We may not always get it right, but everything we do is a faithful attempt to demonstrate and respond to the love we have received in Christ Jesus. Now, before we get into these “love letters,” I want to remind you that over the last few weeks we’ve talked about the way these passages in Jeremiah connect to our core emotions. In Jeremiah 7 we talked about anger and the invitation to compassion. Last week with Jeremiah 18 we talked about fear and the invitation to an uncommon unity – a way o...

Isaiah 64:1-8 Jeremiah 18:1-11 Both of our passages today mention the centering force of a potter’s hands-on clay, so I want to invite you once again into a time of centering prayer. I invite you to become aware of your breath. Don’t overthink it. Just breathe. If it helps to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth, you can. If you want to close your eyes, you can. In the beginning, the breath of God hovered over the waters of chaos and breathed life into all things. It is that same breath that you breathe right now. Know that God is as close as your breath and your beating heart, as close as the breath and beating hearts of those around you. If your eyes are closed, please open them, and I invite you all to remain in your awareness of God’s presence as we explore God’s word together. This is the second of four sermons on passages from the Prophet Jeremiah, and as I have studied these passages over the last few weeks, I’ve realized that they seem to conne...

Psalm 146; Jeremiah 7:1-11 Right now, your body is doing all kinds of things to keep you alive that you don’t even think about. Your heart is beating. Your blood is circulating. Your lungs are filtering oxygen to fuel the engines of your cells and empower the comprehension of these words from your ears to your brain. All of this is a testimony to the grace and majesty and creativity of God! You. You are an amazing work of creation and a testimony to the brilliance of the Creator just because you are here. As we begin reflecting on God’s word today, I want to invite you into a state of awareness of yourself as an amazing work of creation. In order to do this, I’d like you to uncross any arms and legs. Let your feet rest flatly on the ground. You can close your eyes if you want, but the most important thing to do right now is to breathe. It doesn’t have to be deep breaths, but it can be. If it helps to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth you can, but you don’t have t...

Ephesians 6:10-20; John 15:1-4 As we wrap up this series on Ephesians, I want to remind you where we’ve been. We started out with the knowledge that we are saved by God’s grace, not by our own actions that we may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). Then we talked about God’s invitation to be a part of what God is doing in the world and how God had that in mind from the beginning of all time and space – really before the beginning (Ephesians 1:4). Through God’s grace, we are not only saved from sin and selfishness, but we are included in God’s project of reconciliation, and through God, we have peace as God’s people (Ephesians 2:14). The peace of God is not static, though. It is active, and we live into it when we speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). You are loved by God’s own choice – and so are they (whoever they are). Through God’s love, we may have peace with God and one another. Through God’s peace, we are invited to be a part of what God is doing, and that invitation requires us to spe...