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 49:1-7      1 Corinthians 1:1-9      John 1:29-42 In the recent Broadway smash, Hamilton , we hear Angelica Schuyler proclaim, “You want a revolution? I want a revelation!” and as her sisters sing, “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal” she buts in with “and when I meet Thomas Jefferson I’mma compel him to include women in the sequel.” The sentiment of these words echoes part of the now famous “I have a dream” speech of Martin Luther King Jr., which has become – in some ways – as much a part of the DNA of our nation as the original Declaration of Independence. His speech was as much of a rallying cry to fight for equality as it was a vision of peace. And on this day, and in this time, as our nation reels to the right and to the left like some ship tossed at sea, we need something to hold on to. We need a revelation from God to let us know how our brokenness is not all there is to what makes us w...

1 Samuel 3:1-20     Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18     1 Corinthians 6:12-20     John 1:43-51 Most of you don’t know this, but I love rock climbing.  I do not do it very often, and you won’t find me bivouacked to the side of a cliff face like the heroic free climbers that spent 19 days on the face of El Capitan in Yosemite.  At best, I might make it to a rock wall at camp or a climbing gym every now and again. If you have ever been rock climbing, then you probably know the call and response that starts every climb. On belay?   Belay on!  Climbing.   Climb on! Falling.  Fall on!  To belay is to hold the rope for the climber and secure the tension that saves you if you fall.  Once you’ve confirmed that your “Belay” is on duty it is then a courtesy to be sure they know that you are beginning to climb.  The response of the Belay person assures you that they are really ready for you to climb.  If you have th...

Isaiah 49:1-7     Psalm 40:1-11     1 Corinthians 1:1-9     John 1:29-42 “Can I help you find anything?” That’s the phrase we hear in just about any retail market from grocery stores to car lots. Most of us want to hear that in some way, even though we hate answering the question. Usually I say, “No, thanks. Just looking.” Of course there are some stores that you feel you need a flare gun in order to get some kind of service. I’ll never forget being in a certain large store with a friend looking for fabric dye. After about 20 minutes of fruitless searching in the obvious places he walked to the center of several aisles and shouted, “FABRIC DYE! WHERE IS IT?” My wife and I instinctively walked in opposite directions away from him and later rejoined. Sometimes it seems that our world is full of loud voices competing for their own interests. Sometimes the church becomes caught in the crossfire between joining the shouting match and feeling like we’v...

Isaiah 62:1-5 Psalm 36:5-10 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 John 2:1-11 Sermon audio is available here for up to one month. My family and I recently went to a surprise birthday party for someone attaining the half century mark. On the way in my daughter asked me where the present was. I told her that sometimes adults do not give each other presents because there is, in the words of the folk singer David LaMotte, no present like time. It is what we do with our time in the present tense that matters more than the presents. Indeed our presence becomes a gift when it is given fully and sincerely. Even so, there is still a time and place for gift giving and receiving. There is a time and place for hospitality. Children are not the only ones who can see through the lie of saying, “Well, it’s the thought that counts, and I thought about getting you something really great – because you are totally worth it. But I didn’t because I couldn’t actually afford it, and I just never made ...