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...

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16 • Luke 1:46b-55 If you are struggling with the idea of whether to say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, especially during Advent, I’ve got a new one for you. What about Merry Almost Christmas? That is the title and the chorus of a song written by a friend of mine. It’s a song about the blessing of the time before Christmas, the time that we in the church call Advent (which doesn’t quite have the same ring to it), and it’s a song about celebrations, reunions, and homecomings. Of course, the classic of that genre is “No Place Like Home for the Holidays.” Admittedly that one has been a little tender for me this year with my household divided as it is geographically. Having my family here today reminds me that home truly is where the heart is. It does make me wonder though, what makes a house a home? With a quick search of the question, I found a survey of homeowners in the UK from 2018 which showed that about a third of those that responded think of the place they...

Isaiah 40:1-11   •  2 Peter 3:8-15a   •  Mark 1:1-8 Last Sunday we lit a candle for hope, and we talked about the hope we have in Jesus that is expressed through our “God-sized dream.” This dream is an expression of our identity and an expectation about what it means to live in the kin-dom – the household and family of God – which is both present and yet to be. Today, our hope bears the fruit of peace. Amid busyness and conflict – amid wars and rumors of wars – we proclaim peace. I might even take it a step further to say that we wage peace. We are actively engaging in things that make for peace!  While that might mean creating safe spaces without conflict, I like the way Todd Parr defines it. He wrote a book for children called, The Peace Book , and it says things like, “Peace is everyone having socks to wear” and “Peace is everyone having a home” and “Peace is being who you are!”  I think we can all agree that these are things we are working on. Now, befo...

Isaiah 64:1-9 ; Mark 13:24-37 As we begin to reflect on God’s word, as we have received it from the prophet Isaiah and the Gospel of Mark, I am reminded of the old adage of beginning with the end in mind. At the same time, I want to challenge the notion that Jesus is exclusively – or even explicitly – talking about what many call the eschaton: the end of days. For starters, we should talk about the context of these passages that the Revised Common Lectionary has given us today. Isaiah 64 is part of a block of chapters that most scholars believe were written around the time that Jewish people, who were scattered through Mesopotamian conquests, were returning to Jerusalem and the surrounding area. It’s important to note that this was very different than the modern state of Israel, which really did not exist before 1947. The biggest difference is that our reading from Isaiah was not intended to be about ancestral lands or nation-states. It was a celebration their of identity as God’...

John 1:1-18   This past Wednesday a small group of us met for prayer as we often do on Wednesdays at 11:30. You can join us by zoom if you would like. We often have a few that join that way. You can call the church and we’ll send you the link if you don’t have it already. Anyway, last week Susan Cormier, who is a church member and also our Administrative Assistant, realized that lately, we have not been starting off our prayer meetings by sharing our joys! Shame on us. Joy and thanksgiving should be the root of prayer! When we begin anything with joy and gratitude, then everything becomes a response to God’s grace, whether we know it or not, and even if we reject or deny it. That’s why – in the words of my old theology professor from seminary, Doug Ottati –  we begin worship with confession of sin and the proclamation of salvation, or rather, as he said in class one day, “The good news of salvation is baked into our liturgy.” Sometimes we need a reminder that salvation is not ...

Matthew 1:18-24 We lit a candle for peace. Yay! So, what? What does that word even mean today – peace? I don’t mean to be rude or dark or cynical, but I feel like it’s one of those words we throw around a bit too easily sometimes...or maybe not enough. Sometimes we say it in parting, “Peace!” [flashes sideways peace sign] but what do we mean? Do we really want the other person to have peace? Do we want peace between us? Do we just want to be left alone and no longer bothered by the responsibility of interaction? Of course, some of us never say it at all – except maybe in church. That doesn’t mean that we don’t want peace between us. Maybe it’s just that some of us think that peace is a given as long as no one rocks the boat. Maybe some of us think that talking about peace – wishing each other peace – suggests that we don’t have it, and the idea of needing peace is threatening. Maybe some of us even think that peace is an outdated notion, or that it’s something personal and private, lik...