Rev. Zach

Ezekiel 37:1-14 ; John 11:25-26 Happy New Year everyone! Today is the first Sunday of Advent, which begins the new year in the life of the church. Historically there has been a three-year cycle of readings which we call the Revised Common Lectionary, and they begin and end with Advent – a time of preparation for the celebration of the coming of Christ. Some of that originates in seasons of harvest and connects with the lengthening of days and, yes, the date of December 25 was completely adopted from pagan religions much in the same way that Paul told the Athenians in Acts 17:23 that their statue for an unknown God was actually acknowledging the One true God. Now that we have all of that out of the way I want to confess that I am not following the Revised Common Lectionary, I am following the Narrative Lectionary, which is a four-year cycle that also begins and ends with Advent. As we ended the year last Sunday with the celebration of the Reign of Christ and the reminder that we are rul...

Isaiah 9:1-7 ; John 7:52 – 8:12 Some of you may have noticed the title of “Reign of Christ Sunday” in your bulletin, which we have celebrated – or at least acknowledged – for several years now in this congregation. I’ve been asked in the past why we would bother, since the Feast of Christ the King was instituted in 1925, well after the Protestant Reformation, by Pope Pius XI. The simple answer is that many other denominations – including ours – have agreed over the years that acknowledging the reign of Christ over sin and death is a good way to end the liturgical year, which ends this Sunday and begins next Sunday with Advent. More than that, this feast day (as our Roman Catholic siblings call it) was instituted in response to the rise of nationalism which was leading Italy toward fascism and totalitarianism and eventually engulfed the world in violent conflict. Unfortunately, the sin of consolidating power and claiming it for ourselves seems to repeat itself, and it remains a good ide...

Amos 1:1-2; 5:14- 15, 21-24; John 7:37-38 Welcome to the time in between. In the retail world, we are in between Halloween and Christmas. In school, some are about to begin finals. As a nation, we are gearing up for Thanksgiving, and while hiring is up and so is spending, we still have supply chain issues and (according to Pew research ) wages in comparison to the cost of living are about the same as they were in 1973. Of course, we are always in between things as we hurtle through space on this big rock we call earth, and the good news is that we are always moving toward things that are better than they were – or perhaps will be. That may not seem like the invitation that Amos had in mind when he called out the King of Israel for institutionalized mistreatment of the poor, but it is the hope we have in Jesus, who called out to those that would listen and offered them living water that never runs out. Before we look into the connection between these two public proclamations, we need t...

  1 Kings 19:1-16 Today’s message will be a little different than you are used to, as it will be in the style of an allegory. Jesus used parables, and I suppose this is kind of the same. As you listen to this story, bear in mind that today is the day we remember loved ones and mentors; we make commitments of the heart to the ministry we share; we celebrate the new life we’ve been given around the table of Christ, and we elect officers to guide and encourage our common life and our public witness. That’s a lot to do. Maybe we can focus that in a bit by saying that today is about tuning into what God has done, is doing, and will do in our midst. As I begin this story, I want you to know that I’ve chosen a name for the lead character that is fairly ambiguous and I’ll be using “they” as a non-descript pronoun so that any of us could see ourselves in the role of the main character. The scene opens on Francis, riding the bus before dawn to an unfamiliar part of town and scrolling through...

Psalm 51:10-14; 1 Samuel 16:1-13 Given that today is All Hallow’s Eve, I feel compelled to warn you about the potential presence of Zombies, Vampires, and Werewolves. Zombies are those in the church who crave the brains of visitors and new members, but they reject the ideas they produce. Vampires are those in the church that crave new blood, but only in order to sustain what they hold dear. Werewolves are those who seem normal and kind, but there are certain issues and topics that can turn them into ravenous beasts! In case you are concerned, I am not calling out anyone in particular. I am instead acknowledging that each of us has the potential to be monsters when do not attend to the thing these monsters fear – the cross of Jesus Christ. Our scriptures today, as they are from the Old Testament, speak of the anointing of David, which is of course the line established in the Bible that leads to Jesus. We’ll probably talk a little more about why that matters in a few Sundays when we talk...