Rev. Zach

Jonah 2:1-10     2 Thessalonians 1:1-4     Luke 9:10-17 The election is over, and I want you to know how proud I am of the members of this congregation!  I know that several of you voted early. Many you encouraged others to vote through social media. Some expressed their views about candidates but most just encouraged participation in the Democratic process of an election. At least one of you volunteered your time to be sure that elections were free and fair. None of these actions were small, and now…. now we can get back to criticizing the people we elected.  Seriously, though, the ability to hold our elected officials accountable is a big part of who we are as a people. I see that as nothing less than the grace of God, especially in the current political climate. Don’t get me wrong, I realize that politicians say what they need to say to get elected and rarely do what they’ve promised. Ecclesiastes reminds us that, “There is nothing new under the s...

2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33      Ephesians 4:25-5:2      John 6:35, 41-51 A few weeks ago I began a four-part series on gratitude based on reflections on the lectionary in conversation with the book, Gratitude – The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks , by Diana Butler Bass. You may or may not remember that I’m calling this series “Gratefully Alive,” and yes, the pun is intended . It may or may not have been a good idea to interrupt that series with a guest preacher last week, but I think we all enjoyed learning more about our Living Waters project in Cuba. Since our readings repeatedly remind us that Jesus is the bread of life this month, it certainly didn’t hurt to hear that he is the living water for the world – then and now. In case you are like me and you find that a few nights’ sleep may challenge your immediate recall of the past, I’ll remind you where we left off. We started out talking about the connection between grace a...

2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a       Ephesians 4:1-16       John 6:24-35   This week begins a four-part series on gratitude that will offer reflections on the lectionary in conversation with the book,  Gratitude  –  The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks , by Diana Butler Bass. I ’ m calling this series  “ Gratefully Alive, ”  and yes  –  it is a play on words from  The Grateful Dead.   You may remember that a couple of weeks ago, I flippantly contrasted the book  Gratitude  with the band named  The Grateful Dead.  Later that week I was given a soundboard recording from one of their live shows, which only confirms my calling to this ministry even further. Thank you. You know who you are.   Anyway, I think that contrasting these two is a good place to start.  The Grateful Dead  got their name from the genre of folklore that involve...