Rev. Zach

1 Samuel 3:1-20 • John 1:43-51 Last Sunday, we celebrated Epiphany with the Magi, and I challenged you to consider the importance of curiosity and expectation in our lives of faith together and individually. In the afterglow of the star and the expectation that Jesus is God’s self-revelation, John’s Gospel has us jumping straight into the ministry of Jesus in Galilee. Of course, John’s gospel is not concerned with mangers or Magi, but it is concerned with revelation. John’s gospel is all about revelation, relationship, and belief. Verse 1 starts with, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… 4In him was life, and that life was the light of all humankind. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” The text goes on to emphasize how God has come to abide with us in the person of Jesus, and it is followed immediately by the introduction of John the Baptizer as the herald of Jesus. After his testimony about Jesus, ev...

Isaiah 60:1-6 • Matthew 2:1-12 I would like you to take a moment and think of your favorite movie. On the count of three, I want you to shout the name of your favorite movie. One. Two. Three. Excellent! I learned so much about you all just now! Do you want to know what mine is? It’s Casablanca. While I could talk about why I’ll just highlight one important scene at the beginning of the film. For those who don’t know, Casablanca was set during World War II in a town where numerous Europeans are stranded after having sought refuge from Nazi occupation. Rick, an ex-pat from the US, is running his cafe, as he does, and is asked by Bougarti to hold two letters of transfer that will allow anyone safe passage to America. Bougarti tells Rick that he hopes he will be more impressed with him after the lucrative sale of these letters of transfer. After Rick notes a recent murder of two German couriers carrying the same kind of letters, he says, “Why yes, Bougarti, I am rather impressed with yo...