Rev. Zach

1 Kings 3:4-9, 16-28 ; Matthew 6:9-10 As I mentioned before, today is Reformation Sunday – a day we mark to remember our historical roots and the theological principles that guide us into the future that God has in mind for us as God’s people. That may sound very institutional – and I guess it is – but its important to know what came before us and what grounds us. Given the great variety of expressions of what it means to be a people who follow Jesus, it’s important to know what makes us unique and what we might have to add to the great conversation about the good news of Jesus Christ. For those who do not know, the Reformers were those that spoke out against abuses in the Roman Catholic Church in Europe in the 1500s. That led to the Pope telling them that they were no longer part of the church, and then different Reformers began to lead religious movements that coincided with the development of nation-states in Europe and consequently created different expressions in different nations...

Joshua 24:1-15, Matthew 4:1-10 The Bible speaks to us today about the renewal of the covenant, the resolute nature of faith, and the invitation of reverence before God. While that may sound pretty normal for conversations inside of a church sanctuary, those are still some pretty bold claims to make!  The first bold claim is the idea that the Bible speaks to us. It sounds normal in here, but in any other context that might sound like some goofy, Hokus Pokus superstition – so what do we mean by that? In the Reformed Tradition of faith, we mean that the stories found in the Bible offer meaning and truth about who God is, who we are, and the way our relationships express what we understand to be true about God and ourselves. The Bible “speaks'' to us in different ways as we learn about the context of these stories and connect them with our experience and understanding of the world. The same passage might “speak” to you one way today and another tomorrow.  Sometimes we get it right...

Exodus 19:3-7,20:1-17 ; Matthew 5:17-20 Has anyone told you lately that you are a delightful child of God? I’d like you to look at someone near you that did not come to church with you. I realize that eye contact threatens most animals, but humor me. Look at someone and say to each other, “You are a delightful child of God.” Thank you. I wanted to start with that because we are talking about some heavy-handed moral content in the Bible today. Most people that I know tend to either worry that they are being told that they are bad or they suddenly feel superior when I bring up topics with specific moral implications. It’s like racism. Just saying the word and acknowledging that it exists makes some people say, “That’s not me, but I can sure tell you who it is” even though the ‘isms’ in our world are generally not about a person as much as they are about how we behave as people. Sure, they bubble up in the actions of the few, but they are baked into our social systems – which is kind of o...

Exodus 14 ; Matthew 2:13-15 How many of you grew up watching the Cecil B. DeMille version of The Ten Commandments on TV? Fun fact, Charlton Heston’s son played the baby, Moses. Ok, how many of you have seen the movie, The Prince of Egypt ? Fun fact, Treva and I went to see it in the theater on our first date. While there are several other film adaptations, believe it or not, I want to stick with these two for a minute. Both of them have incredible presentations of the Exodus and both of them take a few liberties with the text in order to tell the story of the birth of the people of Israel. I’m not going to waste time picking those inconsistencies apart any more than I am going to tell you that the Exodus is historically problematic or mince words about translation issues between the sea of reeds and the Red Sea. As I so often say to my wife, never let the facts get in the way of a good story! Of course, that’s not a line I would use when it comes to facts like paying the bills, or iss...